


What does that mean?

by ImaMePanda



Category: The Magnificent Seven (TV)
Genre: Adopted Sibling Relationship, Alternate Universe - Teenagers, Big Brothers, Buck & Ezra bonding, Buck is a good big brother, Buck is a good big brother too, Chris & Buck bonding, Chris is a good big brother too, Discipline of Young Adults, Even if he maybe shouldn't let J.D. Drink, Ezra & JD Friendship, Families of Choice, Family, Family Drama, Family Feels, Family Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Gen, He is friggin' hilarious though, He's not, JD thinks he's sly, Little Brothers, Mischief, Nathan is a good big brother too, Non-Sexual Spanking, Papa Bear Josiah, Protective Siblings, Sibling Bonding, Sibling Rivalry, Siblings, Spanking, Team as Family, Teenagers, Troublemakers AU, Younger Ezra, Younger J.D, Younger Nathan, Younger Vin, antics
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-11
Updated: 2017-10-06
Packaged: 2018-09-23 10:23:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 26,817
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9651767
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ImaMePanda/pseuds/ImaMePanda
Summary: On a typical night in the saloon, JD hears Buck use a very untypical word, a word that he is told *not* to repeat. Unable to contain his curiosity his quest to discover its meaning has more than a few bumps along the way. Troublemaker's AU, younger Nathan, Vin, Ezra and JD. Some chapters contain spanking/discipline.





	1. What's that mean?

“Ezra, I asked you to meet me at the church half an hour ago.” Josiah stood to the side of the round table, arms crossed and an unhappy expression on his face as he stared down at the young gambler, who quickly smiled up at Josiah, pretending he hadn't noticed him standing there until just now, when the preacher had been staring at him for a good thirty seconds before he said anything. Buck guffawed under his breath at the kid's gall, glad that for the handful JD could be he didn't pull that kind of crap.

“Oh, Josiah, Ah'm sorry, Ah must have lost track of time.” Nah, from the incredulous look JD was giving Ezra, half admiring and half expecting lightening to strike him at any minute, Buck didn't have to worry about that.

“Funny, how easy it is to do that with your watch in your pocket.” Ezra's grin turned slightly sheepish then, giving in gracefully for him. “C'mon, I want to talk to you.”

Ezra sighed dramatically as he pushed himself up from the table and Buck tried to exchange an amused look with Chris, but he was too busy staring intently at his whiskey glass, though Buck could tell from the way his head was tilted that he was paying more attention then he wanted them to think. “Ah will have to continue our game some othah time, gentlemen.” As he walked towards the saloon doors with Josiah flanking him, Buck heard a slightly apprehensive sounding, “But Ah haven't committed any wrongdoing, Mr. Sanchez, Ah swear.” Josiah's louder voice rumbled back at the boy, fading off as Buck strained to listen.

“Did I say you did? I wanted to talk to you about an opportunity I heard about. I know you don't want to go away to a teacher's college, and I don't want you to either, but Mrs. Potter was telling me about this correspondence course...”

His cards abandoned on the table, Buck stretched back in his chair, hand tucked firmly in the waistband of his pants, his feet quickly up on Ezra's vacated seat. He wondered if Chris would notice if he reached over and poured himself another measure of the man's whiskey. Even with the game cut short Ezra had still nearly cleaned him out, he wouldn't be buying his own drinks 'til payday. “Hey guys, why does a milking stool have three legs?” Buck didn't say anything for a minute, holding onto the futile hope that something else would distract JD from his terrible jokes. “Guys?”

Buck sighed, “I dunno JD, why?”

“'Cause the cow's got the utter! Get it? Get it?” JD laughed so uproariously at his own joke, that Buck couldn't help but smile back at him, shaking his head, “The cow's got the utter!”

“Yeah, I get it, JD.” Buck leaned over and snagged Chris's whiskey, the man tipping his head back enough that he could glare at Buck from under his hat, but not making a move to stop him as he poured a measure first in his own glass and then in Chris's. JD pushed his glass forward and Buck eyed him and his flushed cheeks dubiously. They'd already eaten dinner and the kid had only had the one drink, but JD had morning patrol and the last time he'd been hung over Buck had wound up doing it for him.

He spoiled the boy, he really did. With a sigh, he poured about half as much as he'd poured in his own glass in JD's and passed it back to him. “I ain't planning on carrying you back to the boarding house, ya hear?”

“Geez Buck, I ain't a baby. I can handle my booze.” JD's voice was indignant as all hell, and he finished up with an eye roll.

“Don't get sassy now.” JD spluttered and this time when Buck tried to exchange an amused look with Chris he was right there, grinning that thin, surprisingly sweet, grin back at him. Yep, it was a good night.

A few minutes later, Buck had finished what he'd poured for himself and succeeding in once again 'snagging' Chris's bottle, poured out another shot or two for him and Chris, pushing JD's glass back without adding anything to it, the kid not even noticing, when JD asked again, “Hey guys?” Buck braced himself for an even stupider joke than before, since JD's cheeks had gone from pink to apple red and his eyes seemed a bit glazed, but instead, head tilted to the side philosophically, he asked, “Why does Ezra get nervous about talking to Josiah sometimes? Why does he think he's gonna be in trouble when he ain't even done anything?”

And Buck, none too sober himself, instead of taking the time to give a thoughtful answer to the sixteen year old kid in his care, something he regretted almost immediately, blurted out a thought he'd had more than once about a woman he didn't really think deserved the title of mother, “That's 'cause his Ma is a ________” The second it left his mouth Buck felt his eyes widen, heard Chris choking on his drink next to him, half convinced Inez would appear out of nowhere with her broom to banish him for using such a word in her bar, but instead he got Chris's hand connecting with the back of his head, sharp and solid, making his ears ring. “Ow, Chris!” Chris glared at him, face hard and suddenly looking a hell of a lot soberer.

"Watch your mouth.”

“Seriously, pard? Ain't a kid.” Chris leaned back in his chair, as though he were considering what to do with Buck, Buck putting his feet back on the floor and straightening in his seat, meeting his gaze squarely. He'd known Chris since he was a little younger than JD, and the older boy, and later man, had looked out for him, especially after his Momma died. Even now, there was no doubt he was Chris's man.

But he meant it when he said he wasn't a kid, and after being the one to look after Chris these last few years, the one to have literally pulled his ass from the gutter more than once, Buck wasn't quite willing to let Chris just dictate to him.

“What's that mean?” They both blatantly ignored JD, who'd been looking back and forth between them like an owl twisting its neck the whole time.

“How'd Ezra feel if he heard ya say that about his Ma?”

“Hell, Chris ya don't like her either.” Buck's response sounded a lot more defensive then he wanted it to, and he scowled. He wasn't the sort to talk that way about a lady himself, but, well, Maude didn't count.

“Never said I did, don't mean you talk about a friend's ma like that.” Chris's glare was eating into him a bit and Buck shifted in his seat, because Chris did have a point there. He didn't care a lick about Maude, but he did about Ezra, and even after all she'd done to the boy he was still very attached to her.

“Well, maybe you got a point there...” That was when he heard it. His doom in the form of a still changing and at the moment more than tipsy voice asking a question that was going to get Buck _killed._

“Hey Inez, what does _______ mean?” There was a moment where Buck was too scared to look over, not sure what he would see, but then JD yelped and he had to. Inez had set down the tray of drinks she'd been carrying to a nearby table, and taken a firm hold of JD's upper ear, twisting neatly.

“It means, chiquito, that if I hear you say it again that I put soap in your mouth. Comprehende?”

JD tried to nod, yelped again, and settled for, mumbling a quiet, “Yes'm”, while looking pitifully at her.

“Bueno. Now, tell me, where did you hear this word?” Inez's face had softened, but she still had a hold of the kid's ear, and JD did exactly what Buck expected him too-kept his mouth shut, but gave it away anyway, his eyes sliding right over to Buck. “I see.” She let go of JD's ear, and smoothed her hand over his shoulder to let him know he was forgiven, and Buck wasn't the settling down type and he knew it, but if he was...and then she turned on him like a dragon, shouting at him to get out of her saloon, half Spanish, half English, all loud and angry, and Buck kind of wished it were all in Spanish, because what he could understand was not exactly complimentary.

 No fool, he removed himself from the table quickly, backing away from the angry woman, “Sorry, I'm sorry! C'mon Inez, I'm leaving. Not like I meant to teach the boy that, it just slipped out!” Inez clouted him firmly around the ear, not hard enough to hurt hurt, but enough to make him put a hand over his ear in case she did it again. “Hey, Chris already smacked me!”

“Good! You deserve it!” Buck could see Chris chuckling back at the table, grabbing his whiskey bottle with one hand and JD with the other one as he hauled himself to his feet. “Come back tomorrow when the whiskey hasn't made you so estupido! Tonight, out!” Buck was to the batwing doors by then, and he backed through them with his hands up in surrender, Chris coming round from beside Inez to follow after him, tipping his hat to her, JD trailing in his wake.

“Night Inez.”

“Goodnight Inez.”

“ _Goodnight_ Senior Chris, JD.” She stalked away, muttering under her breath, Buck still a little shell-shocked, standing and staring over the curves of the batwing doors. Chris shoved his shoulder lightly to get his attention as he started heading towards the boarding house, and resigning himself to being on Inez's bad side for awhile Buck started trudging after, putting out a hand to steady JD as the kid nearly tripped over his own feet.

“Hey guys?” Buck fought a groan, “I still wanna know-”

“JD.” Chris's voice was heavy with warning, but JD didn't seem to be taking him seriously. Next time, Buck wasn't refilling his glass.

“But, Chris-”

“I'm serious, JD, I'll tan you if I hear you say that again.” JD pouted and looked over at Buck to rescue him, who shook his head.

“I ain't gonna try and stop him, you shoulda figured out when he smacked _me_ for saying it you shouldn't be. You might notta known what it means, but ya shoulda knew enough to know you shouldn'ta said it to Inez.” Boy wasn't stupid, in fact Buck was more than certain that JD was a sight smarter than him-which meant Buck didn't believe it when he played dumb to get out of trouble.

“You said it first.” JD mumbled it angrily, clearly feeling he'd been hard done by.

“Now, I shouldn'ta done that, and I certainly shouldn't be talkin' that way around you, I apologize for that. But in case you forgot, I already got smacked for it twice. Seems that shoulda taught you something, but if it hasn't I ain't gotta bit of sympathy for you.”

“If you'd just tell me what it means I wouldn't be curious anymore,” His voice had taken on a wheedling tone, and Buck found himself equally parts irritated and amused. Boy was like a dog after a hare when he wanted something.

“Enough.”

“But-”

“No buts but your own, go on now, run ahead and get ready for bed, you got dawn patrol and I ain't doing it for you this time.” Buck just raised an eyebrow as JD made a face that was probably meant to be a scowl, but really just looked like he was pouting harder, “Go on, I said, you'll thank me in the morning.”

“...Fine. Night.”

“Night, Kid.” Buck reached out and lightly squeezed the kid's neck, and most of JD's pout melted away, smiling a hint of a sideways smile at Buck before he hurried ahead.

The two men slowed their pace, Chris smiling as JD yawned audibly in front of them, face about splitting in two. A minute later when JD was far enough away he couldn't hear them, almost to the boarding house doors, Chris pointed at JD's fading figure firmly, with the hand that was still clutching the whiskey bottle, “Little pitchers have big ears.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know I screwed up Chris. I didn't expect him to take to the thing like a toddler with a shiny new toy.”

“Inez's face was something else.”

“I was too scared to look at first.” Buck confessed. They were at the boarding house by now and Chris leaned himself up against the porch column, opening his bottle and taking a pug, Buck flopping down onto the steps next to him, taking the bottle and his own drink when Chris passed it to him. A long, comfortable silence stretched between them, the sort that used to be an almost everyday thing between them, but had all but disappeared after...after.

It was only now, now six months after settling down in Four Corners, six months after they had against all odds started to form a family again, that those silences had started to reappear. Six months after Vin Tanner. If Buck were a different sort of man he might be jealous, and sure, it hurt sometimes to know there was something Junior gave his oldest friend that he couldn't, that he no longer was and never would be again Chris Larabee's best friend.

It hurt like hell. Like  _hell._ But the truth was, it had nothing to with Vin. That was all between Chris and him. 

Before Vin, he hadn't really ever thought he had a hope of getting Chris back at all. Now, here they were, Chris next to him on the porch, sharing his whiskey, yet another misadventure to remember between them, only now there were others to join in. It wasn't a bad lot. No, he thought, taking another pull of the bottle before passing it up to Chris, not a bad lot at all.

“You know who probably woulda made _you_ eat soap if she'd heard you say that? Especially 'round JD?” There was a chuckle and a wistfulness in Chris's voice, and Buck's breath caught in his throat, a lump growing quickly after, because as surprised as he was to hear Chris say the words he knew exactly who he meant. It was only the second time he had heard Chris reminisce, not mourn, not rage, since that horrible, horrible day.

He tried to chuckle back, knew Chris still couldn't handle dealing with anyone's grief but his own, that he should be feeling triumphant right now, delighted that Chris was talking about Sarah at all, and he managed back what he thought was a reasonably cheerful, “Hell Pard, I got no doubt about that,” and a rueful chuckle to boot. Part of him _was_ delighted, this kind of moment still felt all but impossible, was impossible most of the time.

The thing was, Chris might be in a rare good mood, joking around, but he was right. Sarah _would_ have been furious with Buck. Would have been disappointed.

She used to tease him after Adam was born, that he would make a good Papa and what was he waiting for? Go find her a sister to talk to and make some cousins for Adam. He wondered what she would think about that if she was watching down on them tonight. Buck hunched in on himself a little, not really noticing when his companion tried to pass the bottle down to him again. Chris's boot nudged his side and reluctantly, hoping the man would attribute his red eyes to drink, Buck looked up in Chris's general direction, not quite meeting his gaze.

Buck had tried only once to cry on Chris about Sarah and Adam and learned his lesson well. The words had hurt more than anything else. It had been over two years ago now, and part of him knew that things had changed-but then again, he remembered that knife to his throat during their first few days in town, the man he'd called his brother since he was a fifteen year old kid holding it there, and figured they hadn't changed that much.

Chris nudged him again, a little harder this time, and Buck finally met his stare. Sincere and knowing green eyes looked down at him, clearer than he would have expected for the amount the older man had put away, “Mostly though, I reckon she'd be pretty proud. I am.” He choked up, so surprised he couldn't help it, a strangled croak of a sob escaping around the lump in his throat as he swallowed. Chris looked away, and Buck's heart squeezed, wondering if that had been too much, if he'd ruined it. Then Chris's hand was on his shoulder, far enough over his fingers were curling along the back of his neck, squeezing lightly, and Buck slowly relaxed, realizing that the other man had probably just been trying not to embarrass him. Chris's fingers started lightly rubbing at his neck, something he hadn't done since Buck had been a teenager, mourning his mother, and if his face was a mite wetter then it had been he knew now he wouldn't be scorned for it.

It looked like he was wrong, and things had changed a lot more than he'd realized. More than he had dared to hope. He'd been happy to get Chris back at all, but this, this right now, felt like he had his big brother back, all of him, or as close to all of him as he could get.

No, his wasn't a bad lot at all.

 

 


	2. What does that mean? Pt 2

*.*.*.*.*.*

It was just a word. JD didn't know why he was so curious.

But he was.

He knew it was foul...but, Buck didn't say those kinds of things about women, didn't think a woman being, um...willing, maybe?, was a bad thing, so JD didn't think it had the  _usual_ foul meaning. Only, Buck really didn't like Mrs. Standish, (JD didn't much either, but she  _had_ told his fortune and helped him get rid of that curse), so maybe he would say something like that about her.

It was bad enough that Chris had smacked  _Buck_ for it. He was an adult! And not barely an adult like Nathan and Vin. Though, Josiah did say Buck acted younger than them half the time.

It was a mystery. A mystery that after first Inez's reaction(JD had no doubt she meant every word she'd said), and then Chris's outright threat of a tanning JD should probably leave well enough alone. Clearly, it wasn't worth the trouble. Really, he had ever intention of doing so.

At first.

Then, well, he and Vin were riding the morning patrol, and Buck and Chris, and definitely Inez were nowhere near by, and he figured Vin had been a tracker and a buffalo hunter, lived with the Indians-technically, he'd even been an outlaw, an innocent one, but still an outlaw, running with a price on his head, for a while. JD cocked his head to the side. Was Vin still an outlaw? Yeah, everybody in Four Corners and even Judge Travis knew that Vin never could have murdered anyone, but there was still a price on his head.

Every time a new wanted poster came in JD used it as kindling in the little pot bellied stove that heated the jail. It felt kinda strange to burn a picture of Vin, but it was better than leaving them laying around.

Basically, he was thinking Vin wouldn't be bothered any by cussing, so why not ask him while they were all the way out here and no one could overhear? Even _if_ Vin was bothered he'd just tell JD off himself, he wouldn't tell on him. Probably. He waited until they had stopped to let the horses drink from a stream, climbing off and stretching their legs. Vin went to refill his canteen a ways upstream from the horses and JD followed after, crouching down next to him. “Hey Vin, can I ask you something?”

“'Course.”

JD asked him. Vin stared at him for a long time. It looked like one of the corners of his mouth wanted to twitch, but he wasn't letting it. “Where'd ya hear that?”

“Buck.”

Vin shook his head, muttering, “Somebody oughta smack him, teaching ya that.”

“Chris did,” JD said without thinking, pouting a bit, because Vin clearly thought he was a baby.

“Think ya coulda figured out ya shouldn't be sayin' it from that, JD.”

“I'm not a little kid!”

Vin narrowed his eyes at him, “Not what I said, is it? Ya ain't gonna win many friends of the sort ya want talkin' like that.”

“If someone would just tell me what it means I wouldn't hafta keep saying it.” JD huffed exasperatedly, crossing his arms. Vin just kept looking at him for a long moment, then, with a smirk, reached out and shoved JD over sideways into the stream. JD came up spluttering, splashing water back at Vin who just laughed, standing and putting the lid back on the now full canteens.

“I'se thinkin' on stoppin' by Miz Nettie's before we finish patrol, but since now I ain't too sure ya gonna be polite company for Miss Casey, I don' know.” Vin was still smirking, but there was something serious in his eyes as he looked down at JD climbing out of the water, something that made JD feel his face heat.

“What? No, c'mon Vin, I'll be good, I swear. I haven't seen Casey all week, she hasn't been into town at all.” He looked pleadingly up at the tracker, who gave in after a moment.

“Alright, but I'm holdin' ya to that. I hear any kinda talk like that outta ya I ain't gonna be happy, might jus' hand ya over to Miz Nettie and her spoon.”

Feeling a little hurt, because of course he wouldn't say something like that to Casey, not even just to ask her, she was a half year younger than him and really still just a kid-she wouldn't know anyway, and besides, she was a girl, it wouldn't be right-JD nodded stiffly, “I wouldn't, not around Miz Nettie or Casey, promise.”

“Good. Don't have to worry then, I know ya keep yer promises.” Vin turned to gather up Peso, who had waded right into the stream at the deepest part and nearly crossed it by now, and JD beamed, surprised at the compliment, and was still beaming a minute later when he realized he'd lost his hat on his impromptu trip into the stream and had to run after it.

*.*.*.*.*.*

JD knocked on the clinic door with his left hand, holding his right away from his body. He'd ignored the big sliver lodged in his thumb, received when he was helping Casey patch the hen house roof (he'd offered to just do it for her, but she'd looked at him like he was insane and climbed up first, making it look a bit easier than it was to boot), until he was halfway home and Vin, apparently tired of seeing him shift his grip every other minute, had asked what the heck he'd done to himself. He'd been kind of annoyed when JD showed him, didn't understand why he hadn't said anything before, said Nettie probably could have got it out with a needle, maybe, done something, anyway, but JD hadn't wanted Casey to know he'd gotten hurt, not when she hadn't been, doing the same thing.

He'd told Vin that, and his brother had laughed at him, told him he should be glad Casey knew how to take care of a farm, and JD hadn't really gotten it, he was _glad_ Casey could do that stuff. She had to be able to, her and Miz Nettie out there all alone. 

Maybe, sometimes, it was a little embarrassing, when she could do some of it so much better then JD, but he could shoot a gun better, and do tricks on his horse Casey couldn't do, so he figured it all evened out.

Still though, he'd figured anyone should be able to nail on a few shingles without jamming a piece of wood in their hand, and he hadn't wanted her to know he couldn't. What would a girl like Casey think of a guy that couldn't even fix a chicken coop?

Besides, like he'd told Vin, it didn't really hurt, it was just annoying, not unless he banged his thumb on something. Or made a fist. Or bent it. It would probably work itself out on its own. Vin had told him that it was too big for that, and if he left it in it would get infected, but if he didn't want to go see Nathan, Vin could cut it out with his knife instead. Then he'd pulled out his hunting knife and JD had hightailed it to the clinic, knowing that was exactly what Vin, laughing from behind him, had intended all along.

Nathan pulled open the door to the clinic, and smiled with concern at him, “Hey JD, just visiting or not feeling good?”

Feeling ridiculously childish, JD held up his hand with a sheepish smile, “Got a sliver I can't get out.”

Nathan stepped back and ushered him into the clinic, saying, “Sure, we'll get that out in a second,” directing him over to a chair by the window, where he'd have plenty of light to see by, pulling his hand up a bit to examine it, “Oh, that's a big one, don't know if you can really call that a splinter, we're gonna need to clean that good.” He patted JD's knee sympathetically, “Gotta hurt, huh?”

JD shook his head, “Nah, I'm okay.” Nathan raised a skeptical eyebrow, but didn't argue, just going to gather the few supplies he'd need, and the extra chair for himself.

The two talked quietly while Nathan pulled out the sliver, first cleaning JD's thumb, then using tweezers and a needle that was way too big for JD's liking to get it out, JD telling him how he'd got the sliver, then keeping up a running commentary on whatever came into his mind, with Nathan interjecting comments, only stopping to hiss as Nathan poured alcohol over the wound, then as he was wrapping it (“That hole is almost big enough to be a puncture wound, I'm putting a bandage on it, sit your butt down.”) Nathan started telling him a funny and gross story about a ranch hand who had come into town with an infected toenail, Nathan's dark eyes shining with unusual mischief as he made him laugh. “I swear JD, next time he comes in I'm gonna wear a clothespin on my nose, and I don't care if Ol' Parker is offended by it.”

“He really stinks _that_ bad?” JD barely managed to get it out through his giggles.

Nathan nodded with pretended solemnity, “I had to wash his foot three times before I could find individual toes.”

“That's disgusting!”

“You aren't the one who had to squeeze the puss out of his toe.” Nathan's voice was dry and the face he pulled made JD laugh even harder. He sat back in his chair and let go of JD's hand, “Alright, you're done. Free to go unless you have any more wounds you're pretending don't hurt.” Nathan arched an eyebrow at him and JD shook his head.

“No, I'm good, and it really didn't hurt much, Nathan.”

“Sure it didn't.” Nathan patted him on the knee again, stood up, stretched a bit, and walked back over to his desk and the set of medical tomes he'd gotten for his twenty fourth birthday the month before, JD frowning after him.  JD had been in the church when Ezra had seen them in one of the mail order catalogs he got from Mrs. Potter and was always paging through, and the other boy had jumped right up, all excited, and run off to show them to Josiah, who had been equally excited, except for the fact that it had been during the hour of the day he'd decided Ezra and JD needed to spend doing lessons, and he'd wanted to know exactly how mail order catalogs counted as studying. Ezra had quickly talked all the other peacekeepers into going in on the books with him, though it had been lucky Nate's birthday had still been a month away or they might not have been able to scrape together enough in time.

Nathan had been really, really, happy when he'd opened the box, so happy he'd almost cried, and it had made JD feel almost the same just watching him. He spent all his time reading them now, and for the first few weeks it hadn't bugged JD, and it wasn't right that he was letting it bother him now. Nathan worked really hard, being a peacekeeper and the town's healer, plus taking care of all of them the way he did, he should be able to spend his spare time doing whatever he wanted, and the knowledge in the books was important for him to know anyway. JD knew that, he really did. But he never seemed to come to the saloon anymore, or sat out in front of the jail talking, or spent _any_ time with JD at all. He kicked his boot toe lightly at the wooden floor with a scowl on his face, scuffing it. It was stupid of him, selfish, to let it bother him, but they'd just been having such a good time and a minute later Nathan's head was buried in his books and it was like he didn't even exist. He kind of wished he _was_ hurt somewhere else, so that Nathan would have to keep talking to him.

“JD? You okay?” JD looked up surprised, to see that yeah, Nathan's book was open, and his desk lamp turned on, but he was looking over at him, concerned. JD nodded, not sure how to feel at all, but tried to pull off a smile as he pushed himself to his feet.

“Yeah, just lost in thought for a second, bye Nathan.”

He must have been successful because Nathan smiled back and said, “Bye JD,” before turning back to his reading, and JD walked towards the door, a little angry that Nathan hadn't been able to see through his deception, for all he hadn't wanted him to when he was saying it. Halfway across the small room he suddenly realized he had the perfect way to get Nathan's undivided attention.

Ignoring the little voice inside his head that told him this was a Bad Idea, JD turned around, and said “Hey Nate, what's _______ mean?” Tension seemed to rise in the room the second the words left his mouth and JD gulped as Nathan first turned sideways in his chair to look at him, then stood up, face seeming to grow more upset the longer he looked at JD.

“JD Dunne, did you know that was a bad word?” JD squirmed where he stood, not wanting to answer his brother. “JD, I asked you a question and I expect you to answer me.”

JD hung his head, “Yes...but I really don't know what it means!”

“Good, it ain't for you to know!” It was snapped more than shouted, but JD still flinched a little, and as he watched Nathan took one deep breath, and then another, calming himself down, “C'mere.” Reluctantly, pretty sure he was about to get at least swatted, JD walked back over to Nathan, who took his arm and set him down in his chair. Confused now, JD watched the healer warily as he opened the desk drawer and pulled out a small paper packet, most of which JD knew contained herbs, and ripped open the top, reaching in and plucking out a large pinch of something dry and green, “Open your mouth and stick out your tongue.” JD pushed his lips tighter together and shook his head. “Right now, JD.” He shook his head again, a little more frantically, and Nathan gave an exasperated sigh, “It ain't gonna hurt you, just tastes bad.” JD opened his mouth a fraction to tell Nathan that that was exactly what he had been expecting, and Nathan dove in, taking hold of his jaw and deftly placing the powdery dried plant in his mouth, the sharp, bitter, taste and weird texture making JD recoil. “Close your mouth, you're keeping that in there for two minutes.” JD did as he was told, already defeated now, nose wrinkling as the smell and taste permeated his mouth, his saliva building up and moistening the plant, not only making the taste and smell spread, but turning the leaves slightly gooey, like it was melting into his mouth, and JD just knew the taste wasn't going to go away for ages. He glared down at the book laid open on the desktop, hard enough that it should probably have burst into flame. This was all its fault.

It wasn't as bad as the time his Mam had washed his mouth out for lying to her, there weren't any suds to make him gag anyway, but the smell seemed to rise up and feel his nose, and pretty soon his eyes were watering, and his mouth was filling up with saliva that he really didn't want to swallow, and actually JD decided you couldn't really compare one to the other. He looked up at Nathan, who was standing over him with his arms crossed, with a pleading face, but he just tapped the pocket watch that was dangling from one of his hands with a finger and said, “Thirty seconds.” JD tried not to either swallow or gag for the next thirty seconds, glaring down at the stupid book again, and then Nathan was handing him a bowl to spit in and filling a glass with the pitcher of water he kept on his desk, handing it to JD, who spent the next minute or so alternating between scraping green gunk off his tongue and trying to rinse his mouth free of the taste. It wasn't working very well. When he was done Nathan was still looking down at him, and said sternly, “I don't want you talking like that, JD, you're too smart, too fine of a boy to be doing that, and I'm not gonna put up with it. I don't like having to punish you, but I will when I need to, you hear?”

“I know...M'sorry, Nathan.” He swallowed thickly, yeah, Nathan was paying attention to him now, but he was mad at him, even after he'd punished him, and geez, JD could be so stupid sometimes, and he didn't even know why-

“Alright. We're good then, long as I don't hear something like that out of you again. Have you eaten lunch yet?” JD blinked in surprise, not having expected that question, then shook his head. “C'mon, I'm hungry, lets go see what Inez has today. Here, first finishing cleaning up your face.” Nathan wet a cloth and handed it to him, waiting for JD to finish and climb to his feet, dropping his arm around his shoulders once he was up. “Feels like we haven't talked much lately.” JD nodded, at first hesitantly, then again. He wasn't sure if Nathan had figured it out, he had been glaring at that book pretty hard, or if maybe he just missed talking to JD as much as JD missed talking to him, but either way he felt a smile tugging at his lips again.

“Yeah, yeah, did I tell you about when me and Vin went hunting last week?” Nathan shook his head, and JD started talking, maybe a little too fast, but Nathan didn't seem to mind. “He's been teaching me how to set snares and at first mine weren't catching any, but then...” They started walking down the double flight of stairs to the clinic, JD keeping up a steady stream of commentary, when halfway down he froze, “Um, Nathan, could we not say anything about what I said to Inez?”

Nathan looked at him like he was a little bit crazy, “I wasn't planning on it in the first place JD, why?”

“Um...”

 

 

 


	3. What does that mean? part 3

JD was sitting in the pew in front of Ezra, reading a book on India that Josiah had given him. It was harder to read than his dime novels, there wasn't a story to pull him along, but some of it was _fascinating_. He hadn't believed it when he'd read that people there considered cows sacred, but Josiah had told him it was true, he'd even been there and seen it. Than he'd said a lot of really complicated stuff about God and Gods and people finding their own way to the Almighty that he didn't really understand, but JD figured meant Josiah didn't think there was anything wrong with thinking that.

JD thought it was really neat that Josiah had been to so many different countries around the world, he even spoke five different languages (Though he'd told JD that English and Spanish didn't count, as his parents had spoken both to him since he was born, but that was still three when most people JD only knew one, maybe two. And wouldn't that mean everyone who only spoke what their parents did knew zero? And you couldn't know zero languages, that didn't make sense.). He'd always wanted to be a Texas Ranger someday, but now he was wondering if maybe he wanted to do something where he could travel the world. He definitely wasn't going to be a missionary, though. Maybe he could be an explorer, and find islands no one had ever heard of...meet new people no one else ever had...before he could get too far into his daydream he felt the heavy weight of a gaze on him, distracting him.

JD sighed. He was sitting in the pew in front of Ezra _trying_ to read the book, anyway. When he wasn't distracted by his own daydreams, which he had to admit, happened a lot, it was Ezra's stare on the back of his head drilling into him, like it was right now. Only every time he turned around Ezra's nose was buried back in his own book-excerpts from Greek Philosophers that had made JD's eyes bleed when he'd tried to read a page-acting like he hadn't just been looking at him. It was starting to drive him a little crazy. He whipped his head around quickly, hoping to catch Ezra in the act, grinning when he managed to see the last second of his eyes darting back to the book held open in his lap, “Saw you.”

Ezra made a show of slowly looking up, even blinking his eyes as though getting used to looking at a distance when he'd been bent over a text, but JD wasn't going to be fooled when he'd seen him. “Whatever are you talking about, Mr. Dunne?”

“You keep staring at me. Do I got something on my head?” His eyes widened suddenly, hand flying to it, patting around his hair, “Buck didn't really put a spider on me, did he?” Buck had been catching a nasty looking one for Inez when Nathan and him had gone in for lunch, and of course he'd spent a good few minutes keeping the poor thing trapped in a beer mug while he teased JD, threatening to drop it on him when he wasn't looking. JD wouldn't have put it past him to have somehow saved the spider until he was leaving and dump it on him then.

“Ah have seen no spider, Ah assure you. Ah would have told you if Ah did, JD.” Ezra was rolling his eyes at him now, and JD scowled just a little, not mad, but getting a bit frustrated.

“Then what do you keep looking at me for?” Ezra hesitated, and JD gave him his best pleading eyes.

“Alright, fine, Ah heard...” Ezra trailed off, unusually reluctant to continue, and JD leaned forward, doing his best to look eager, and after a moment the other teenager blurted, “Did you really say- _that word_ -to Inez?”

 JD felt his face flame at the mixture of almost awe and downright disapproval in Ezra's voice, “Not like that! Buck said it, and I'd never heard it before, and then him and Chris were ignoring me when I asked them what it meant and so I asked Inez! I still don't know what it means!” JD's voice was an indignant wail, and apparently too loud, because all the way from the back of the church yard, where he was working on a carpentry project they'd been told was a secret, they could hear Josiah.

“Boys! That doesn't sound like your lessons!”

Neither of them said anything for a long moment, then when neither more words or footsteps came their way, Ezra turned back to JD and said, voice not much louder than a whisper, “Ah apologize, Ah should know better than to listen to rumor.”

“It's okay.” JD shrugged, “It kind of made a scene.” He hesitated, “Is everybody talking about it?”

“A few people. Some men in the saloon. Mary was expressing her displeasure to Buck about it. A bit loudly.”

JD groaned, Ezra wincing in sympathy, “That's just great.”

“Something new will happen and the gossip will move on. Did you get in trouble?”

“Not exactly, Buck said I shoulda known better than to ask Inez, 'cause Chris smacked him for saying it,” Ezra's eyes widened at that, “and Chris said if he heard me say it again he'd tan me.”

“It _is_ a very nasty word, JD, you really shouldn't say it.”

“Everybody says that, but nobody will tell me what it means!”

“JD, shhh!” The two waited in silence for a moment to see if Josiah would appear-ordinarily they were allowed to talk, as long as it was about school work, but Josiah had caught them playing cards twice last week, and then Ezra had been teaching him a magic trick when he'd walked in yesterday, and Josiah told them they'd lost talking privileges for the rest of the week. It was Thursday, so it wasn't that big a deal, but he'd also told them what to expect if he had to come inside and 'redirect your attention to your studies'. “What do you mean everybody? You didn't ask somebody besides Inez?”

“Um...no...” JD looked down at his book, feeling his ears heat up as Ezra's face turned more and more incredulous.

“You did!” He hissed it at him, “Have you taken complete leave of your senses?”

“No.” JD glared over at Ezra, who continued to look at him like he thought JD was bound for an asylum.

“Who in the world did you ask?”

JD groaned slightly, but figured from the look on Ezra's face, he wasn't going to let it go without an answer, “Vin. And Nathan.”

“Vin, Ah can almost understand. But _Nathan_? You _have_ taken leave of your senses.” Ezra shook his head and sighed, and JD groaned again.

“Yeah, may not have been my best idea ever.” It hadn't been until halfway through his lunch that the last of the bitter taste had left his mouth. The look of disbelief on Ezra's face was enough to make him roll his eyes though, turning back to the front to hide it. Sometimes, he thought Ezra seemed-not scared, exactly, maybe kind of wary around Nathan? And he didn't really get why, maybe the first little bit they'd all been in town Nathan had been kind of hard on Ezra a couple times, like with that thing with the ladies? Only, JD got why Nathan had been mad, even if he didn't really think Ezra had been doing exactly what Nathan thought he had been doing, what he had been doing wasn't exactly good. JD had thought they must have made up though, because later, when Buck and Vin had been teasing Ezra like crazy for wearing that dress to save Mrs. Travis, he'd gotten real mad at them and told them it wasn't right to be mean to Ezra for doing something good.

Then there had been that time with the horse traders, and JD had kind of thought Nathan was gonna skin Ezra alive, and he _had_ swatted him really hard (JD had decided when the third audible whack had landed, Ezra dancing up on his toes, that he was _never_ going to do anything to get in trouble with Nathan. He probably should have thought of that earlier), but than he'd hugged him really hard too, and JD kinda thought he'd been shaking a little from where he'd been watching. He hadn't told on him when they got back from Eagle Bend either, and Josiah probably would have been mad at Nathan for not telling him if he'd found out. 

So he didn't really get it, it was pretty obvious to JD that Nathan liked Ezra as much as the rest of them, even if Ezra seemed to drive him crazy sometimes.

“JD? JD?” JD came back to the present with Ezra hissing his name and poking him in the back of the shoulder, and lazily batted the others boy's hand away.

“What?”

“What did he do? Did he wash your mouth out?” Ezra looked both fascinated and horrified, and JD blushed, Ezra grimacing with sympathy.

“Not exactly. He put this weird herb thing in it that was all bitter and tasted worse then one of his teas.” JD couldn't help the face he made at the memory.

“That sounds _appallingly_ awful. Ah shall have to endeavor to keep mah language scrupulously clean around Mr. Jackson.” Ezra shuddered a bit theatrically, and JD caught the glint of humor in his eyes and stuck his tongue out at him, and Ezra 'endeavored'-he'd taught JD that word a while ago-to keep his face straight. JD didn't think he was doing a very good job of it. “Ah'm sorry, JD, really, it's just what good did you possibly think would come from asking Nathan that? You do have mah sympathy though, while Ah have never experienced anything like that, Ah had an elderly Aunt ah stayed with one year who reached for soap at the slightest bit of what she called 'sass', let alone bad language.” JD blanched, slightly horrified.

“No wonder you never cuss.” It was true. While he'd heard Ezra unleash some nasty insults in the middle of arguments, he had never heard him say so much as a 'damn'.

“Mmm. She couldn't cure me of mah sarcastic streak, that is in the blood, but even if Ah were much inclined to such things, it is a reflex not to. Sometimes Ah think Ah can still taste soap.”

Searching about for something to change the subject to, as JD thought Ezra looked a little green, “Hey, Ezra?”

“Yes?”

“You know, you wouldn't have to say the word to tell me what it means.” Okay, so it wasn't a complete change of subject, but it sorta counted, right?

“John Daniel, you are completely incorrigible.” JD wasn't sure what that meant, but Ezra had an amused smile on his face, so he figured it couldn't be too bad. 'Course, that coulda been why Ezra was smiling...

“Am not. Anyway, I mean _you_ probably knew what that word meant when you were my age, right?”

Ezra looked uncomfortable, and wouldn't look JD in the eye when he answered, “Yes, when one spends as much time in saloons and gambling halls as Ah have, it is inevitable to hear such unseemly language.”

“So c'mon, tell me, won't you?”

“Ah think not.”

“Oh, Ezraaa, c'mon!”

“Whining mah name in that obnoxious manner is not helping your cause.”

“Please?” JD dropped the wheedling tone he'd been using, but turned up what he'd heard Buck call 'the puppy face' full blast.

“JD...” Ezra was definitely kind of embarrassed now, he still wouldn't quite look him in the eye-wait was he _blushing_? JD watched him with his head cocked to the side for a long moment, then grinned.

“You don't know what it means either, do you?”

Ezra looked affronted but JD kept grinning, “Ah certainly do.”

“No, you don't.”

“Ah have a fairly good notion.”

“Nope.” Ezra scowled, and JD was one hundred percent sure he was right now, otherwise Ezra's feathers wouldn't be getting all ruffled.

“Ah know it is a rude and undignified word, that a gentlemen never calls a lady.” He crossed his arms and deepened his scowl.

“I ain't gonna go calling any ladies any names at all,” JD protested, “I just wanna know what it means. C'mon, ain't you a little curious?”

“No, Ah am not.”

JD just kept grinning right into Ezra's scowl, knowing Ezra well enough by now to know that was a big fat lie.

“Yes, you are.”

“No, Ah am not.”

“Yes, you are.”

“No, Ah am not.”

“Yes, you are.”

“No, Ah am not-no, Ah am not doing this with you, Ah am not a child.”

JD's grin was more than a bit wicked as he responded right back, “Yes, you are.”

“No, Ah-JD!” Ezra looked so frustrated now that JD couldn't help it, he fell of his pew and all but started rolling on the floor he was laughing so hard. “Would you stop it? Josiah is going to come in here any second!” He stood up and bent over the back of JD's pew, swatting at him with his book, and JD batted him away, trying to get himself under control and finally snatched Ezra's book away, holding it hostage. Ezra grabbed his book from where JD had left it open on the pew and held it away from him, but since JD didn't really need it this second he just grinned, still gasping out the occasional giggle. “Ah'll hide it up on a roof somewhere if you get us in trouble, Ah swear, and you'll get stuck with philosophers too.” Okay, JD had _seen_ Ezra pick that book out of Josiah's collection, when he was picking out his own, which reminded him...

“It's Josiah's book!” Ezra paused, clearly having forgotten that fact, and JD took the opportunity to stand up and swat at Ezra with his own book in revenge, his brother automatically dodging and then doing the same, which was, of course, when Josiah walked in.

“Boys! What did I tell you?” The two turned slowly in his direction, raised hands and the 'weapons' in them falling down to their sides, gulping as they saw a very-not-happy preacher filling up the door frame.

“Uh, sorry?” JD squeaked out as Josiah began walking up the aisle towards them.

“Now Josiah, it's just that we were having a debate about the works of Juvenal, Ah read a passage to JD and we disagreed on it's meaning...” Ezra trailed off as Josiah's eyebrows climbed higher, obviously not believing him, and JD didn't really blame him-like he would have really been listening even if Ezra had.

“Ezra, JD, what did I tell you about talking during your lessons today?”

“Not to do it?” JD's voice came out slightly squeakier than he liked, and he could feel his cheeks heating.

“Exactly. So even _if_ ”, Josiah raised an eyebrow again, clearly expressing his disbelief, “you were debating 'the works of Juvenal', it was something you'd both been told not to do, wasn't it?”

JD mumbled a, “Yessir.”, hearing a similar response from Ezra next to him. This was just great.

“I also don't appreciate seeing my books being abused like that. I've been allowing you two to pick freely what you want to study out of my collection, some of which I've had seen I was younger than either of you. After seeing you two swinging them at each other, I'm thinking I should take that privilege away.” The two boys exchanged miserable glances, JD sure Ezra was thinking the same thing he was-getting to pick what they wanted to learn about was the only thing that made being forced to do lessons at the ages of sixteen and eighteen (Tiny's son was only fifteen, barely, and he didn't have to do lessons at _all_ , which JD found completely unfair. Josiah had just talked a lot about how not everyone had the same opportunities when he'd complained though.), bearable. After a long minute of just looking at them, Josiah relented, “I won't, this time, but I don't expect to see behavior like that again, understood?” 

Another chorus of “Yessir.”, and JD was really hoping that would be the end of it. He knew it  _wouldn't_ be, but he hoped anyway.

“JD, c'mere.” Reluctantly, wishing he could stay in the relatively safety of the narrow row, JD walked over to an expectant Josiah, cringing a bit when the man took him by the shoulder and bent him over, the same arm wrapping around his middle to steady him a moment later. He drew in a deep breath, a quick flurry of stinging smacks landing all over his backside, yelping a bit as few landed particularly low-and then it was over nearly as soon as it began, Josiah helping him back to his feet, rubbing at his back a bit. JD wanted to rub somewhere else, and did the second he was sure no one was looking at him, Ezra making his own reluctant trip to Josiah's side. JD turned away, not wanting to watch, but wincing a bit as he heard the same flurry of swats land on Ezra. The older boy kept quiet, which was kind of embarrassing, and then Josiah was done with him too, and calling JD's attention back over to him, and he went to stand by Ezra.

“The two of you have ten minutes left in your study hour-I should make you stay later to make up for fooling around like that, but I won't, _this time_ -I'd suggest you sit quietly and get at least some reading done today, hear me?”

Another chorus, this time of, “Yes Josiah”'s, and he stood watching as they each went back to their pew, picked up and exchanged their books, and unwillingly sat down, JD squirming to try and get comfortable and instantly regretting it when it just made his butt hurt worse. After another few seconds while JD buried his head in his book, figuring Ezra was doing the same behind him, Josiah went out the back of the church again. JD didn't even look up, nose deep in a section of his book on festivals, and got sucked into learning all about Holi, a festival of colors where people had giant bonfires and even painted each other bright colors.

JD was _definitely_ going to India some day. 

Josiah's head poked back in the door, what didn't really feel like ten minutes later, “Alright boys, you're free to go.” JD almost jumped to his feet, hurrying to deposit his book on the pulpit, calling a goodbye to Josiah over his shoulder as he hurried out the front of the church. India was interesting, but it would be years before he could get there-the sun was shining outside right now though, and it wasn't yet the part of summer that got so hot you didn't want to move. He waited on the porch for Ezra, who came out a second later, Josiah calling after him, “Don't forget we have evening patrol, son!”

“Ah won't!”

“Hey Ezra, what are you doing now?”

“Ah was going to see if I could find a game in the saloon. Care to join me?” JD was only allowed to play cards in the saloon if one of the others was playing too, and so rarely turned Ezra down, even if he almost always walked away with his pockets lighter.

“Sure, but I wanted to talk to you about something first.” The two of them were trotting down the church steps now and Ezra cast a suspicious look at JD.

“If it is anything to do with what we were discussing before Ah want nothing to do with it.”

“Oh, c'mon, Ez. We're the only two out of the whole seven who don't know, and I know you're curious. They just don't want to tell us 'cause they think we're babies!”

Ezra hesitated before he answered, and JD grinned to himself, pretty sure he had him now, “Ah have not actually asked anyone to tell me JD, though Ah do admit that the others, even Mr. Tanner, often treat us as though we were children.”

“Exactly! You haven't asked anybody yet, so you can't get in trouble for it.”

“Ah am fairly certain the leap in your logic falls a bit short.”

“Huh?”

“Never mind. Who-Ah am _not_ saying Ah will ask _anyone_ -who in the world would you have me ask? Ah am _not_ asking Mr. Sanchez.” Ezra shuddered melodramatically, and JD rolled his eyes.

“Duh. Buck, of course.” There was a pause and then JD realized Ezra had stopped walking, and turned around to go back to him. “Ezra?”

“Are you certain you aren't running a fever?”

“Ha-ha, very funny.”

“Ah assure you, Ah am not joking.”

JD huffed and punched Ezra lightly on the shoulder, Ezra smacking him back, and Mrs. Travis, walking across the street to Mrs. Potter's store, Billy trotting next to her, spoke, voice half teasing, half serious, said, “Boys, we aren't going to have our town's peacekeepers fighting in the street are we?”

“No, Mary.”

“No, Mrs. Travis.”

“Good. Ezra, Evie sent a few pages for you in her last letter, stop by later and grab them, would you?”

Ezra's face lit up, before he smoothed his expression to something blander, Mary smiling and touching his shoulder. “Yes, of course, what would be a good time?”

“Anytime after the next hour or so, I'm running some errands right now.” The boys waited until she'd crossed the street, Billy running to play with the Potter children, before they continued heading towards the saloon, keeping their conversation quiet.

“Ah'd think Buck would be the worst choice after last night, except maybe Chris. Why him?”

JD hesitated, not about to tell Ezra that Buck had said  _that word_ about his mother. Yeah, he was figuring Buck would have a hard time being mad at Ezra for anything to do with it because of that, but if he told Ezra that the only thing Ezra would be likely to do would be to punch Buck in the face. “While, I figure A. he already knows what word it is so you won't have to actually say it, and B. it's his fault we want to know, really, so he can't get mad.”

“Or, having already told you not to say it again, and able to infer from the amount of time Ah spend both in the saloon and with you, Ah have probably heard the story, he knows that Ah know you were told not to say it, and will decide Ah should have deduced no one would be pleased with me eithah and act accordingly.”

JD  _thought_ he'd understood that. “But that's the first thing I said, you don't have to actually say it, just say you want to know what the word he said last night means.”

“The answer is no. Ah am certain Ah will regret it if Ah do.”

“Bet you a dollar, three to one in your favor, that you won't.” JD could see from the look on Ezra's face that he had him.

“So you are saying if Ah lose the bet, Ah lose only a dollah, whereas if Ah win Ah gain three dollahs? We are both clear on that?”

Yep, he had him hook, line and sinker. “Yeah, that's what I meant.”

“Ah'll only do it if you're with me.”

Aw heck...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


	4. Chapter 4

Buck let out a quiet groan as he slipped off Lady's back, giving his mare a good scratch behind her ears, the horse leaning slightly towards him. Tiny came out to see if he wanted him to take the horse, and while Buck ordinarily liked seeing to her himself, he was tired and handed the reigns over with a grateful thanks. He stretched, scratched idly at his chest, and started walking towards the saloon. He needed a drink.

Today had been-trying. He'd gotten up at the first crack of dawn to make sure JD was up, and, just as he'd thought, the boy was still all but face down in his pillow snoring away when he'd gone in to wake him. Been a grumpy little cuss too, next time Buck might leave getting him up for Vin to do-the last time had involved water and they'd wound up waking half the boarding house in the resulting scuffle, but Buck could always lock his door and leave it for Chris to deal with.

The man would kill him when he eventually came out, but it just might be worth it.

Chris had been kind of grumpy that morning when they'd been drinking their coffee, not even grunting his usual response to any of the others 'mornings' as they'd come and gone, and Buck had to admit that after last night, he'd been kind of worried the man had been regretting their conversation. He'd looked up after his second cup of coffee and gave Buck a stare that would have made most men run away, but Buck had just started running through things he'd done that might have pissed Chris off (There had been surprisingly few. Buck reckoned he was growing up a bit, what with a kid to look after and all.), that the older man could also have found out about between the time he'd gone to bed and now, and drawn a blank. “Mary was up early today. Wants to talk to you.” Ah. That had explained it. Buck hadn't been available, so Chris had taken at least part of his earful for him and wasn't happy about it.

Of course then 'Siah had wanted to know what they were talking about, and Buck had been awful glad it was just the three of them right then, because Chris had grinned a very evil grin at him and said, “Oh, I'm sure Buck wouldn't mind telling you, _would_ you Buck?” Josiah had been looking at them both by then, confused, but expecting a good story, and after giving Chris a death glare he'd just ignored, somehow Buck had rambled through an explanation without bringing up Maude, and had been rather relieved when Josiah had been laughing by the end.

“Only you, Buck, only you.”

'Course then he'd sobered, and said, “I reckon you'll avoid teaching such things to the boy in the future.”, face suddenly dead serious, and Buck had agreed wholeheartedly.

Buck had spent most of the morning avoiding Mary but somehow that just led to both Mrs. Potter and Virginia cornering him. The women in Four Corners passed news faster than any of the information networks he'd heard about in the war.

Virginia hadn't had much to say, other than that she provided all the meals he ate at the boarding house, and if he didn't want to find his dessert, or possibly his whole dinner missing, he should watch what he had to say, particularly around the youngin's, and Buck knew a real threat when he heard one and had just kept nodding and saying, “Yes'm.”, whenever she paused.

Mrs. Potter had gone on quite a bit longer, and technically she hadn't yelled at all, but she kept talking about how good she knew he was with JD and how she was so surprised at him. She'd told him she expected better, and Buck _liked_ Mrs. Potter, she was clever and friendly, had pointed out the fishing pole JD had been admiring when Buck had been looking for a present for him, celebrating them signing the papers and all, and when she'd said that he'd felt about as low as dirt.

He'd managed to keep away from Mary until right before lunchtime when he'd been leaving his shift at the jailhouse and she'd cornered him in front of the saloon before he could get inside and proceeded to all but shriek her head off at him.

Okay, maybe that wasn't fair, but she had been far louder than Buck thought was necessary. About busted his damn eardrums. At that point Buck had half been expecting Miz Nettie to appear in front of him, fingers reaching for his ear so she could pull him down to her level while she ripped a strip right off him-he'd only gotten Miz Nettie mad at him once before, and he had no plans for it to happen again-and decided that as soon as he was done with his meal he was getting the heck out of town for awhile.

Then Inez hadn't been mad at him anymore, not really, and so he'd gotten to joking with her the way they did. Buck wasn't stupid, he knew Inez liked him at least a little, and he also knew she wouldn't look seriously at him twice when he was still going around with Miss Millie or any of the other local girls, and Buck wasn't done yet, and might never be. They were both just having fun, though sometimes...Buck shook his head, pausing to lean up against one of the hitching posts along the boardwalk. It was never gonna happen, and he needed to quit dreaming. Hell, he wasn't good enough for a lady like Inez anyway, not anything long term anyway.

After an extra long and enjoyable lunch, and a good ten minutes teasing JD with a spider, Buck had been in a better mood, and been thinking he'd stick around, not sure what he'd do, but sure he'd find something. Then he'd been walking by the restaurant, it's windows open to let in the breeze, and heard a group of the snobbier townspeople-the ones that were always real grateful right after they'd stopped another bank robbery, or arrested idiots brawling in the streets, but hated them the rest of the time-talking about it.

It was one thing for them to say such things about him, it stung a bit, but he could take it. It was another for them to be talking that way about a sixteen year old kid. _His_ sixteen year old kid.

Buck knew he should have just walked away. Knew it wasn't worth it. But he'd still stopped in his tracks, listening for a minute longer, then turned around, heading straight for the entrance, planning to set a few things straight. Right as he'd been about to push the doors open, there was a hand on his shoulder, and eyes like steel staring into his.

“No.”

“Chris-”

“ _No._ ”

“Fine, then!” Buck had knocked Chris's hand off his shoulder and stormed off, knowing his brother was right, but right then he'd be damned if he'd admit it. Chris had called after him, voice tight, but Buck had just kept walking, figuring he was taking that ride out of town after all. 'Course then he'd realized he'd been walking the opposite way to the livery and had to debate whether he just wanted to turn around and head back the way he'd come, or go down one of the alleys to behind the buildings, avoiding Chris, and likely anyone else, altogether. He wasn't scared of an angry Chris, not like the rest of the boys, but Buck didn't want to go stirring things up none, anyway, so he'd headed down the nearest alley.

Lady, at least, had been happy to see him, and after giving her the required amount of affection (No sweets though, he was surprised Chaucer's teeth weren't rotting out of his head with all the peppermints and other penny candies Ez fed him.), he'd got her saddled up and headed out. He'd let her take her head for a bit, and she must have been needing to stretch her legs, 'cause the old gal had been cantering all over the place. It wasn't much past spring, and Buck had figured she must like the little bit of green they had here and there as much as any of the other ladies in town. Finally she'd slowed and Buck had ridden out to a little spot he liked to take Miss Millie to on picnics, a little stand of trees with a creek running through it. He'd ground tied Lady to where she could get a drink from the creek or munch on a patch of wild grasses, and laid down in the shade, slinging an arm behind his head and looking up at the sky through the little bit of leaves the scraggly desert trees provided. It hadn't felt like he'd been laying there very long, but he closed his eyes without realizing it at one point and by the time he opened them again the sun was quite a bit lower in the sky then it had been and Buck had figured he should be getting back to town.

Which led him to here, leaning comfortably against this post, the sun all but set behind him, and just not much wanting to move, for all he hadn't done anything very productive with his day. Buck idly wondered if there might be a lady in need of his company. He'd have to check on JD first, this time of day the boy would either be in the saloon or mooching around the jail, likely reading one of his dime novels. After another long minute he shoved himself up looking to see if he could see light in the jailhouse, sure enough it looked like there was a lamp burning, and Buck figured he might as well head over there, make sure JD hadn't gotten into too much mischief and see if he'd gotten himself some dinner yet. Right as he was starting up the porch JD and Ezra came all but tumbling out the door, or rather it seemed like JD was all but pushing Ezra out the door, hissing something at him. Buck didn't hear most of it, but he did hear the word “bet” clear as a bell, and closed his eyes for a second, resisting the urge to pinch his brow. What the heck were they doing _now_?

Those two and bets were never a good thing, and the fact that it was Ezra who seemed reluctant and not JD definitely didn't bode well. “Hey boys, what have you been doing?”

“Hey Buck, nothing much.” JD grinned too innocently at him, and nudged Ezra's ankle with his foot, and Buck didn't really blame Ezra the scathing look he shot at JD, the boy might as well have been wearing a sign that said 'Up to Something'.

“Just been idling away the evening, Mr. Wilmington.” JD nudged him again with his foot, a bit harder this time, and to Ezra's credit he didn't react at all, “Ah did have something Ah wanted to ask you however.”

Buck shrugged, not sure, but thinking now maybe the boys were wanting to ask for some special favor or treat they thought he'd be more likely to say yes to than any of the others. Wasn't the first time it had happened, though he'd learned by now not to give Ezra a definite yes before checking with Josiah.

If Josiah had already said no to whatever it was it would certainly explain the reluctance. “Go ahead.”

There was a longer pause then he would expect, Buck's mind going back to the 'they're up to something' scenario as Ezra's face gained some of the blandness that often covered it when the boy was stressed or hiding something. Or playing some kind of prank. Buck surreptitiously looked around for Vin hiding somewhere about to do...something, or maybe some kinda string the boys would pull to make something fall on him. “Ah wanted to know the meaning of the word that caused such an uproar at the saloon last night?”

Buck closed his eyes. He counted to ten. Nope, no good. He was still mad. He opened his eyes and fixed a hard look on his face as he glared at JD, who was doing his best to hide behind a rather resigned looking Ezra. “What do you think you're doin'? You got Ez asking people now? What part of that did you think wouldn't make me angry?” Buck pulled his hat off his head and smacked it against his leg, running his other hand through his hair, trying to vent some of his frustration somewhere besides the boys.

Rather than backing down like he'd expected, JD flared up at his words-though Buck noted sourly that he didn't move out from his hiding spot-, snapping back, “I don't even understand what you're so upset about! I just want to know what the word means, but no one will tell me! Not one of you, 'cause you all think I'm a baby!”

“'Not one of you?' What the heck does that mean JD? Have you been asking the others after both me and Chris told you not to say it again? Seriously?” The silence from JD was as loud as any answer, and Buck fought back the urge to unleash a string of curses that would probably likewise be new to the boy's virgin ears-that was what got him in this mess in the first place. Buck slapped his hat on his leg again and something in him just snapped, “For the love of-fine, JD, fine! You want to know what it means that bad, I'll tell you! Keep you from running round the whole town shouting it, maybe.”

He told them. In detail. He used big words and even a couple hand gestures, and didn't really notice as Ezra's jaw dropped and JD's face slowly colored, though he had to keep swatting Ezra's hands off his ears, the older boy repeatedly clamping them back over-even as he paid rapt attention himself.

Buck did notice the roar from behind him, as he was finishing up, freezing him where he stood, “Buck Wilmington! What the _hell_ do you think you're doing?” Buck definitely noticed Josiah's hand descending on the back of his neck, and was suddenly, horribly, aware of what he had just done and how much Josiah was going to _kill_ him for it. He wasn't sure if he was happy or not that the preacher didn't seem to be expecting an answer, just turned and dragged him down the porch, heading up the street to the church, Buck wishing it were a little darker than it was as he was pulled along in Josiah's very angry wake. He got the older man's hand off his neck at one point, planning to disappear until he'd cooled down a bit, but before Buck got more than a couple steps away, Josiah had a hold of him again, with a growl and a shake that made him decide he wasn't going to try that again.

There was a big field behind the church, plenty of room for Josiah to hide his body.

The preacher had been yelling at him as he was hauling him along, booming at him, really, and Buck decided maybe he should pay attention so if the older man quizzed him he wouldn't _actually_ wind up in that field for not listening. Then, as he realized just what Josiah's scolding made it sound like he was going to do, he balked, putting his feet down firmly and digging his heels in. Not running, just trying to reason with the man, “Now, hold on a gulldarn minute there, Josiah, I'm a grown man, thirty-six years old, there don't need to be any talk about you taking me over your knee.” Buck did his best to sound reasonable, though he couldn't help the nervous and too loud chuckle at the end. Josiah did not look impressed.

“Sow and thou shall reap, Brother Buck.” Then, more plainly, “Act like a child, and I'll treat you like a child.” Then, as casual as you please, he smacked him, hard, on the seat of his pants, right in the middle of the street! Yeah, it was late enough there wasn't much of anyone out, but that wasn't the point!

“'Siah!” If it had been _anyone_ , anyone but Josiah, well, and Chris, he would have been swinging, but...

“Get your butt moving, or I can deal with you right here.” Josiah didn't actually wait for Buck's compliance, just started down the street again, almost yanking him off his feet. He scrambled to catch up without falling, not wanting to test if Josiah meant it. As he was lugged up the porch steps, Buck wondered whether it was appropriate to pray for deliverance from the preacher in his own church.

He decided it couldn't hurt.

They kept going until they were all the way in one of the two small ante rooms in the back of the church that served as Josiah's living quarters, the man easily thrusting him ahead of himself through the doorway. Buck might have an inch or two on Josiah, but when it came to bulk the man had him beat, hands down, and he slowly turned around, holding his hands out in front of him in a placating gesture. “Josiah, now, lets be calm here, I know I made a mess of things-” Buck froze as Josiah growled at him, pointing at his bed behind him.

“ _Sit._ ” Buck sat. He had the feeling it would be the last time he'd be doing so comfortably for awhile, and part of him was wondering why he was going along with this. Josiah would beat him in a fight, but he could give the man one if he wanted, and he wasn't, not really. “Why?” Buck hung his head, twisting the rim of the hat he hadn't realized he'd carried all the way here until just now, not sure how to start. JD had pushed him, no doubt about it, but that wasn't no excuse for how he responded. “ _Buckley._ ”

Buck looked up and glared at that, he hated his full name far worse even than that stupid “Bucklin” nickname Vin had come up with, and the only one who knew what it was was Chris, which meant he'd _told._ “Don't call me that.”

“Excuse me?” Buck flinched as Josiah stepped forward, looming over him. Chris was all fire and ice when he was mad, but Josiah was reminding him of a bear right now. Still, no one called him Buckley but his Ma, and even that had been once in a blue moon.

“I just-I don't like being called that, that's all.” So, maybe that hadn't been quite the protest he'd been thinking of, but heck, Buck figured if there was a time to watch himself, this was it.

Josiah nodded jerkily, and dropped it, going right back to why they were there in the first place, “Tell me what happened.”

Haltingly, feeling stupid, Buck did, starting with the mess in the saloon the night before, and telling the truth this time, figuring he might as well have a clean conscious if Josiah was going to kill him anyway. “...and I just wanted the whole thing to be over, and I guess I thought if I just told 'im...” He trailed off, shrugging, eyes more on level with Josiah's shoes than his face as he finished. There was a heavy, to Buck's ears still angry sounding, sigh from the other man.

“Sounds to me like you lost your temper, and did something you knew you'd regret even when you were doing it. You _are_ a grown man, Buck, and a fine one,” Buck felt his face redden, not having expected to hear that in the middle of being told off, “but you didn't act like it tonight. Tonight, when you should have been dealing with JD's bad behavior, and Ezra's for that matter, like the grown man you are, you threw a fit like a toddler instead. You had no business teaching them anything like that, whatever the reason. Ezra might be no innocent, but he's not as worldly as he pretends to be either, and JD _is_ an innocent. I'm not happy with you, and I don't think you should be happy with yourself either.” Wasn't really much he could say to that, not when it was true, so Buck didn't say anything, just kept his head hanging and then Josiah was sitting next to him on the bed, and-wait. He wasn't _actually_ going to turn him over his knee like he was one of the younger boys, was he? A whipping, as humiliating as it might be, as much as Buck didn't think it was necessary, exactly, Buck would take, but he'd been expecting to bend over the bed, not be taken over Josiah's knee, _literally_. Sure enough, Josiah's paw of a hand reached out to take hold of his upper arm, and Buck recoiled away from him, jumping up off the bed, not improving things for himself at all, if the noise Josiah made was any clue.

“Let's just hold on to your horses for a sec here, Josiah, I know I might as well have dumped a hornet's nest on Sunday dinner, but let's be reasonable, can't we?”

“If I were being unreasonable, son, this would be happening on the jailhouse porch.” Josiah's arms were crossed across his chest, an eyebrow raised as though he were studying Buck. “If I have to come get you, you ain't gonna like it.” Buck flushed, sure he'd said those exact same words to JD before, suddenly feeling like he was all of about sixteen himself.

“Can't I lie over the bed or something instead of...?” He gestured to Josiah instead of saying it, feeling even more like he was sixteen, and pushing back memories of the first time Chris had taken him in hand.

Considering how wild they'd _both_ been back then, his screw up had had to be spectacular to even get Chris's attention, and he had _not_ enjoyed the aftermath.

“No. You can't.” Buck glared at Josiah, hands balling up into fists at his sides.

“Why the hell not?” He snapped out the words a little louder, a little hotter, than perhaps was wise, but Buck just glared straight back into the man's face as it arranged itself in more severe lines.

“Because we're family, and this is how I deal with my family. And because if you don't get over here _right now,_ you're losing the pants.” Buck almost stormed out of the room at that. Almost. Even started to take a step towards the doorway, only he got a good look at Josiah's eyes and the man was clearly serious. Josiah had already proved he was stronger than him, too. He still hesitated another second and Josiah pushed himself up an inch or so off the bed, and before he'd really decided to do it he'd walked back over to him, Josiah wasting no time in grabbing his wrist and pulling Buck to his left side. As he felt himself being tugged down over Josiah's lap, the preacher scooting back as he positioned him so that he was mostly supported by the bed, just his feet hanging off the edge, Buck gulped. Josiah squeezed the back of his neck lightly, and then the same hand came to settle heavily in the middle of his back and he tried to relax, but couldn't. It had been years since he was in this position, at least five or six, which might not seem very long for a man of Buck's age, but it had been long enough he'd been thinking he wouldn't see it again.

Oh, Chris had threatened him a few times, even swatted him lower than his head once or twice, when Buck had really pissed him off, but not this. He started to take a deep breath, trying to brace himself, but before he got it halfway in Josiah's hand came smacking down, whooshing it out of him, and then a blazing fast series of sharp slaps, landing every which way, first high then low, to the right and then to the left, so that he never knew where the next was going to land. It might have been years since he'd earned one, but he was a hundred percent sure that Chris didn't spank like this, harder maybe, but also slower and more methodical. Long before he would have expected to he felt himself sucking in his breath, trying not to hiss at the sting. A smack on a spot that already felt red hot had him shooting out a muffled curse, and immediately regretting it as the two hardest slaps yet landed next, one on the top of each thigh, “Don't use the Lord's name in vain in his house.”

“I'm sorry, bu-t,” another slap landed as he was saying the word, Josiah going right back to what he had been doing so Buck could barely get his sentence out, “under the cir-cumstances, I kinda thin-k He'd underst-and!” Buck was pretty sure that got a snort from Josiah, but he paid for his sense of humor anyway, the older man raising his left knee in a move Buck recognized and landing a series of smacks that were just as fast as all the rest had been, but harder, then lowered his leg back down.

Hell, it looked like he was gonna be here for awhile. He couldn't really blame Josiah either, if Buck were honest he'd have been mighty upset if he'd walked up on the situation, one of his fellow peacekeepers going off on the boys like that, and bring in what he'd been saying, and he was probably lucky Josiah hadn't just hauled off and broken his nose...'course, at least that would have been more dignified than _this._ To his embarrassment, for just a minute his legs started kicking in response to the swats, his ass now hot enough he was sure you could fry an egg on it, before he made himself hold still, determined to take it with as little fuss as possible.

He'd made _hand gestures_. Buck cringed, realizing just now that other people might have seen him, mostly just men wandered home from or going to the saloon or Digger Dan's, and most would probably just think it was funny, but if it got around town, well, he'd be wishing he was dead. Today had been bad enough. Today _was_ bad enough, one of Buck's hands creeping down to Josiah's ankle and grabbing hold, hoping the older man didn't mind, knowing that if he didn't he'd soon be reaching back.

Mary had been furious when it was JD, she all but considered Ezra her baby brother, and while, like Josiah, she knew the boy was no innocent, he still doubted she'd be any to pleased. He clamped his mouth shut around a yelp as Josiah shifted him forward, paying extra attention to right were he sat and the tops of his thighs. Not to mention how furious _he'd_ been when he overheard that conversation earlier, and what they'd been saying, and, when it came to him, at least, now he'd kind of proved them right.

He really had, hadn't he? They'd said he wasn't good enough, and right now he didn't feel it.

As it continued Buck found himself tangling the hand that wasn't on Josiah's leg into a fist in the blankets in front of him, then biting his lip hard enough to taste copper to keep from letting out the yelps that were wanting to escape regularly now. Finally Josiah's hand quit falling, resting warm and heavy on the back of his leg while the hand that had been holding him in place was rubbing circles on his back, around and around, until Buck could feel his hitched breathing start to settle. Like it was some unspoken signal Josiah hauled him up off his lap then, but before Buck could try and stand the preacher had pulled him down next to him, tucking him into his side with an arm wrapped around his shoulders. He hissed as his backside hit the bed, and then Josiah tipped him a bit sideways, so he was resting on his hip, and his head was low enough he could sort of lean it on Josiah, the bigger man's arm sliding down from his shoulders so it lay sort of sideways along his back, talking quietly though Buck wasn't quite listening, just enough to hear that Josiah wasn't mad anymore, that he was forgiven, and that was a bit better. Embarrassing as all hell, but comfortable, and though he didn't really want to admit it, comforting. Part of him felt like he wanted to shove Josiah away and storm off, but the part that had been feeling vulnerable as all hell since his conversation with Chris the night before, since he heard those cruel words that afternoon, the part he'd been successfully ignoring until now, didn't want to budge an inch, and right now it was winning.

“Alright, little brother?” Buck blinked for a second, startled, then blinked again as the words processed. He'd kind of thought that was a title reserved for Nathan. Josiah called all of the Seven 'Brother'-though, Buck had heard him call others that too, and wasn't sure it was more than a honorific, really, like Ezra's 'Mister''s-and he called Ezra, 'son', almost as much as he called him his own name, but he'd only called Nathan 'little brother' as far as Buck knew. “Buck?”

“M'fine.” He turned his head to look at Josiah, and then the older man was frowning, his hand moving so that he could pull a reluctant Buck's bloody lip gently away from his jaw, examining it lightly and making him hiss.

“No need to do this, I wouldn't think less of you for making a little noise.” Now _would_ be when his eyes would feel with tears, not when he was getting wailed on and had an excuse. Josiah acted like he didn't notice, didn't mention it at least, just let go of his lip, and when Buck tried to pull away and stand this time he let him, standing with him and clamping a hand back on his shoulder. Buck moved away again, and Josiah stepped back, leaving the path to the door clear for him. He started that way then hung back in the doorway, hesitating, aware of Josiah's eyes still on him, and turned, leaning his shoulder on the jamb.

“Josiah?”

“What is it, brother?”

“Do you-I heard...am I ruining JD?”

“No!” The older man looked shocked and nearly as quickly angry. “Why would you think something like that? Because of this?” Buck shrugged, then shook his head.

A thoughtful look crossed Josiah's face, and he took a step closer to Buck, “Somebody say that to you?”

“Not to my face.” Buck shifted on his feet, still a little mad that Chris had stopped him from going in and confronting the group of busybodies.

“That why Chris made the scene in the restaurant earlier?” Buck's mouth dropped open, and then his eyes narrowed a bit, not sure if he was pleased or not that the other man had taken up for him when he'd stopped him from doing it for himself in the first place.

“Guess it must be, this is the first I'm hearing about it, though.”

“Let me ask you something, Buck. Do you like any of those people?” Buck slowly shook his head. “Me either. You care about what they have to say more than you do what I have to say?”

Buck snorted at the idea, “'Course not.”

“Good. 'Cause I think you're helping JD grow into a fine man we can all be proud of. And you just ignore anyone who says otherwise, they don't know what they're talking about, you hear?”

“Thanks, Josiah.”

“Don't mention it.” He took another step closer and squeezed Buck's shoulder, “I'm heading to the saloon before evening patrol, you coming?”

“You buying?” He grinned at him, all traces of the previous melancholy gone, and the hand that had been squeezing his shoulder was giving it a hardy slap, Josiah laughing enough that Buck's grin got even bigger.

“Just one round, still have to be able to sit a horse, and I doubt I have time for more than that anyway.” Buck was pretty sure Josiah was already more than a little late for patrol, but he wasn't gonna say anything that would stand in the way of him and a free drink, and let Josiah lead the way. He'd meant it when he said Ezra all but cleaned him out last night.

 


	5. Chapter 5

“You made me miss half of what he said!”

“Judging from the hue of your face Ah think you heard plenty. You owe me three dollahs.”

JD gaped at Ezra, before snapping his mouth shut indignantly, “I do not! We didn't even get in trouble! You owe _me_ a dollar.”

“The bet was ovah whethah or not Mr. Wilmington would have an adverse reaction to the question, and he certainly did.” Ezra folded his arms, leaving one hand sticking out, palm up, no doubt he wanted JD to place his winnings there-no way was that happening, because Ezra _hadn't_ won.

“Nuh-uh. The bet was over whether or not Buck would make you regret asking. He didn't do anything.” Ezra scowled, clearly not pleased, and JD grinned at him, holding out his open palm in imitation of the gambler.

“Ah suppose that may be a valid interpretation of our bet...”

“C'mon Ezra, don't be a sore loser. It's just a dollar.” With a grumble Ezra went to pull the dollar from the small amount of money he kept in his jacket-he had way more in his boots JD knew.

“Why's Ezra owe you a dollar JD?” The boys whirled around to see Chris leaning against the wall at the corner of the jail, a hint of a smirk on his face at their reaction.

“Hi Chris!” JD winced at how high he could hear his voice going, like that wasn't a dead give away.

“Mr. Larabee, Ah didn't see you there. How are you on this fine evening?” Ezra doing his charming act couldn't be helping none either.

“Nope. I reckon you didn't.” He waited a second, tipping back his hat with a finger, “Waiting for an answer, JD.”

JD wasn't sure what to say. He was _pretty_ sure from the way Chris was acting he'd heard enough to know what was going on-had maybe been there since Josiah had hauled Buck off (and JD hadn't expected that, his stomach twinging with guilt as he remembered he'd gotten Buck in trouble. He hoped Josiah wouldn't punch him or something-but probably if he was going to do that he would have just done it right there in the first place instead of dragging him off to the church.), though he didn't think he could have been there before that, at least not by much, because JD was sure he would have stopped Buck as quick as Josiah had.

But what if he hadn't been? He didn't want to tell on himself. JD shifted on his feet, opening his mouth still not sure what he was going to say, just grasping for words as he went, “Um, well, you see, me and Ez had this bet about-”

Ezra cut him off suddenly, “Ah apologize gentlemen, but Ah am supposed to be getting ready to ride evening patrol, and as Ah am sure Mr. Dunne can satisfactorily explain the particulars of our wager to you Mistah Larabee, Ah'll say goodnight.” He went to head down the porch as though he were doing nothing out of the ordinary, only to freeze as Chris barked after him, voice sharp-JD was pretty sure he saw his eyebrow twitch.

“Josiah's busy, get your butt back here!”

Reluctantly, much slower than he'd turned away, Ezra turned around, though he didn't take the two steps back that would put him where he'd started, muttering more than loud enough for Chris to hear, “Oh yes, the proscription on solo patrols for us 'children', despite the fact that Ah am not a child.” Chris was glaring one of his evil glares at Ezra, and because Ezra had a death wish he was glaring right back. The fight between Ezra and Chris on that was old news by now, and kind of pointless because if Chris did say yes Ezra would have to have the same fight all over again with Josiah. Sometimes, JD just thought Ezra seemed to like riling Chris up for some reason, or at least that he had a real knack for it.

“ _Enough_ , Ezra.” After a few more tense seconds Ezra looked slightly away from their stare off, Chris moving his gaze back to JD after a moment, “Tell me, no bull crap, and no lies.”

Chris was upset enough now that JD wasn't about to push it, just opened his mouth and blurted out the whole story, “I asked Ezra to tell me what _-that word meant when we were having lessons and he said he wouldn't, only then I figured out he didn't know what it meant either, and then I asked him didn't he want to know?, and he said no again, but I could tell it wasn't true,” He paused to suck in a huge breath, “and kinda teased him til he admitted it, and then bet him that if he asked Buck he wouldn't get in trouble, and he told me I was crazy and then I gave him really good odds.” He took in another deep breath while Chris looked grim.

“So not only did you completely ignore what I told you last night, you did your level best to drag Ezra into trouble with you?”

“I wasn't trying to get Ez into trouble!” JD protested, glancing over at Ezra to make sure he didn't think he had been.

Even if it had kinda happened...and even if their bet had kinda been based around that possibility...JD hadn't meant it to happen like this. Ezra gave him a very quick little smile, and JD relaxed a little, relieved he didn't seem like he was mad at him. “What did I tell you I was going to do if you said that word again JD?” He wrenched his head back around to Chris, kind of wishing he could disappear right now at the expression on his face.

“No, Chris-you didn't say if I said it again, you said if you _heard_ me say it! And you didn't hear me say it!” The second the words left his mouth JD knew they were the wrong thing to say, even if they were technically true, Chris growling as he took a step forward, taking his upper arm firmly, turning and swatting him almost in one motion, so that JD was standing back where he had been, Chris facing him by the time the sting fully registered.

“Want to try again?”

Feeling his eyes starting to sting now too, JD muttered, “You said you'd tan me.”

“That's right.” Chris looked at him for a long minute, then turned his steely gaze on Ezra, “C'mere.” With a nervousness that JD could almost hear Ezra took a reluctant step forward, and then, when Chris's gaze darkened, another, so that it didn't look like he was about to jump off the porch at any minute anymore. “How much older than JD are you?”

“Ah believe, according to our birthday's Ah have about sixteen months on JD.” Ezra was standing very stiff and JD felt really bad now, it wasn't fair if Ezra got in trouble just because he was older. The whole thing had been JD's idea.

When Ezra had been reluctant when they saw Buck walking up to the jail, JD had also, kind of, maybe made chicken noises. Just for a second, but he had.

“Next time, remember that and tell him _no_ when he's trying to get you to do something you know is a bad idea!” Chris's voice cracked like a whip, and Ezra flinched. There was a pause and his next words came out much softer, but still stern, “You're going to your room for the night, no poker, no drinking, or nothing. Unless Josiah comes to get you for evening patrol-if he does, you go with him, but then when you're back, it's back to your room. Get some supper from Inez if you ain't eaten, but you eat it in the kitchen or up in your room. And when I say the night, I mean the night, no coming downstairs at 12:01 because it's a 'new day'.” Ezra had a mutinous expression on his face, opening his mouth to protest and Chris cut him off, “I could always tan you instead.”

“Yes sir.” It came out slightly more sarcastic than anyone would have said was wise, Ezra turning to head to the saloon in a huff and quick as lightening, Chris's hand shot out and smacked him twice, Ezra jumping in surprise and turning so his backside was facing away from Chris.

“That was for the attitude.” Ezra glared and blushed at the same time, and when he took off this time Chris let him. JD gulped, knowing his time was up, and sure enough, Chris was talking to him again, “JD, your room, get going.”

With Chris looking at him expectantly, JD got, feeling Chris dogging at his heels the whole way down the boardwalk and up the stairs into his room. JD walked into the center of the room and watched as Chris strode towards his bed and settled himself down in the center of it. “Hang up your hat and jacket, take off your boots and come here.” JD pulled off his hat and moved to set it on the dresser, taking a bit longer than he needed to shrug out of his jacket and hang it on the wall peg to the right of the dresser, in between it and the door. He propped himself against the wall to take off his boots, no chair in his room, but since JD figured he wasn't going to want to sit down anytime soon that was a good thing. As he turned back towards Chris he wiped his suddenly sweaty hands on his pants leg, jiggling from foot to foot as he stood there. “C'mon, lets get this over with.”

JD stayed where he was, “Chris, I'm really, really, sorry...and I swear I learned my lesson, and you don't need to tan me, really!”

Chris shook his head, “That's not gonna work.”

“Chris! _Please._ ”

“I told you what would happen JD. You're only gonna make things worse.” JD took a single step forward, then paused again, biting at his lip. “One.” He took the last two steps hastily, having heard from Vin what had happened the one time he'd let Chris get to three and wanting no part of that. “Good choice.” Chris grasped his wrist but didn't pull him over his lap right away. “I don't like you disobeying me, JD. When I tell you to do or not do something I expect you to do it. Not only did you do the exact opposite of what you were told, you went and got one of your brothers involved too. That just isn't acceptable, I won't have it, and it ain't going to happen again. Understood?”

“Yes sir.” JD's face had heated up while Chris was scolding him, starting to feel less sorry that he got caught, and more sorry that he'd disappointed the older man. Chris tugged him over, moving him a bit to get JD where he wanted once he was over his lap, one of his arms moved to curl around him, cinching JD into place. JD sucked in a breath, letting it out with a gasp as the first slap landed, Chris's hand falling rhythmically, going from left to right and top to bottom.

Why did he have to keep pushing? Why had he had to know that bad? Buck had told him once that he was more stubborn than a cranky mule stuck in a ravine, and JD thought maybe this meant he was right. He shifted from side to side trying to get away from the swats as they started to land lower, moving from the center of his backside almost to his sit spots and Chris just pulled him tighter, before moving the smacks back up to the center of his butt, smacking back and forth for a minute, like JD's butt was a drum, like the kind he'd seen at the Reservation when he went with Josiah that time.

Heck, he'd still only heard about half of what Buck had been saying, and if Buck had meant what JD thought he meant than he had no clue why anybody would want to do that in the first place-if Josiah hadn't been so mad he might have thought Buck had just been making stuff up. Either way, he'd gotten himself, Ezra, and even Buck in trouble for nothing. JD hissed, kicking his foot into the end of his mattress and letting out a whimper as Chris quit swatting back and forth and started spanking down the left side of his butt in a line, going all the way down to the top of his thighs, JD fighting tears as Chris paid some extra attention to right where he sat, hand thumping down repeatedly in almost the exact same spot. When he started doing the same thing all over again on the other side, JD couldn't help it, he tried to beg off even though he knew it wouldn't do any good, voice coming out thick with held back tears, “Chris, I'm sorry, and I _swear_ I won't do it again. I'll be good!”

“That's good, JD.” Chris's voice was steady and calm, like he wasn't mad anymore, but he showed no signs of stopping or even slowing, and when he got down to the spot where his butt and his leg joined, giving it the same treatment as he had the other one, JD opened his mouth and wailed, not caring anymore if he was crying like a baby.

“I'll be go-ood! I'll b-e goooddd!” He collapsed over Chris's lap, sobbing, just wanting this to be over, hating that he'd pushed his hero into doing this, and wanting Buck, really, really, bad.

Only, he bet Buck was probably still mad at him. At that thought JD started crying even harder, burying his head in his crossed arms, a long moment passing until he realized Chris wasn't swatting him anymore, his hand rubbing firm circles on his back, and another second before he registered the gunslinger's voice saying, “Alright. All over. Alright, you're fine now. Just fine.” After a few moments of that, JD turned his upper body as best he could, trying to sit up so that he could bury himself in Chris's arms, wanting the hug that Buck would already have been squeezing him half to death with, and Chris seemed to understand, flipping him the rest of the way over and pulling JD tight against his chest. “It's alright, son. It's alright.” His rear was perched on Chris's thigh, pressing into the soreness, but it was worth it for the hug, and JD did his best to burrow himself into Chris's chest, one arm wrapped around him as the other clutched at the front of Chris's shirt.

“Are you still mad?” The words were mumbled, JD half expecting Chris not to hear them, but the man shifted a bit, pulling him even closer, and he figured he had.

“'Course not. Once it's over, it's over.” JD nodded, a yawn escaping out of him with no warning as he slumped, suddenly boneless, his grip on Chris's shirt loosening, then tightening automatically as he felt his hand start to slide. “Let's get you laying down,” Chris stood slowly, turning them so they faced the head of the bed, a half asleep JD mostly being propped up by Chris's side, watching as the older man pulled back his bed covers, “You need help getting down to your long johns?” Suddenly much more awake, JD pulled away from Chris and shook his head.

“No, I can do it.” Chris moved away, JD hearing him open one of the dresser drawers, a nightshirt sailing through the air to land on JD's head a few moments later. The boy, shirt already off and trousers half shucked, squawked in protest as the folds of cloth enveloped his head, blinding him for a second until he pulled it off, glaring lightly at Chris who chuckled at him.

“Sorry about that.”

Kicking his trousers off, not bothering to lay them over the top of the dresser like he usually would, just kicking them over into the corner where he'd tossed his shirt, JD pulled the night shirt over his head in a way that wouldn't wind up suffocating him. Chris crossed back over to him and as JD climbed into bed and lay on his belly (he ordinarily slept on his back, but there was no way that was happening tonight) Chris pulled his sheet and blanket up and over him, laying them down on the top of his shoulders. He turned away, and JD panicked, leaning up on his side and calling out, “Chris!”, before the man got more then a few steps away, and he immediately swiveled around, eyes scanning for a threat of some sort, before Chris got a good look at JD's face, realizing what had happened.

“I ain't leaving you. Just gonna get the chair from my room,” He'd walked back over to JD as he spoke, reaching down to clamp his hand reassuringly on his shoulder, “should've told you.” He squeezed JD's shoulder, letting go after a second, “Okay?”

“Okay.” JD lay back on the bed, letting his head thump into his pillow, embarrassed at how upset he'd gotten. Chris headed out into the hallway of the boarding house, pulling the door shut behind him, most of JD glad he had, as he certainly didn't want anyone looking in, but part of him wished he hadn't. The door opened again a minute or so later, a rickety straight backed chair entering ahead of Chris, who thumped the door shut behind him, walking over to drop the chair at the head of JD's bed, sitting quietly and saying nothing as JD shifted over so he was closer to the side of the bed Chris was on. After a minute he pulled a length of wood with some cuts taken out of it and his carving knife out of his pocket, leaning back in the chair, obviously settling in for awhile. “Hey, Chris?”

“Yeah, Pard?”

“Do you think Buck's gonna be mad at me for getting him in trouble?”

“No, and he got himself in trouble.”

JD bit his lip, and wasn't quite sure he believed that. “You don't think 'Siah beat him up do you?”

Trying to hide what JD thought was a smile, Chris shook his head, “No, I'm pretty sure Josiah did not do that, JD.”

“Pretty sure?” JD asked, voice dubious.

“Pretty sure Buck got the same treatment you did, and that he deserved it too.” JD's mouth fell open, and Chris was definitely smiling now. “If Josiah hadn't handled it, I would have.”

“But he's a grown-up!”

Chris muttered something that may or may not have been, “That's one word for it,” and when JD said,

“Huh?” back, he just shook his head.

“Never mind. Don't you worry about Buck, he's fine. Go to sleep.”

“Okay.” JD tried to fall asleep, he really did, but even though he was tired he couldn't, his mind falling onto a topic that often occupied it.

“Hey Chris?”

“Yeah, JD?”

“I'm hungry.”

A muffled swear word, and Chris, voice a little strained said, “You didn't eat dinner yet?”

“No, I did,” JD said, yawning around the last word, eyes drifting closed for a moment, “But I'm still hungry.”

Voice more relaxed now, Chris said, “Think you can survive then, bud.”

“Nu-uh. 'Sides, I've got,” a pause while a yawn nearly split his jaw in two, “cookies in my dresser. Bottom drawer.”

“You've got what in your dresser?” Chris snorted on the what, JD's eyes slitting open from where they'd fallen shut again without him realizing it, grinning at Chris as best he could manage when he felt kind of like he'd melted into his bed.

“Cookies. Mrs. Potter made 'em for me and Ezra yesterday. Can I have one?” With a shake of his head and a smile that made JD's widen, Chris got up and went to the dresser, extracting a wax paper packet filled with cookies, opening the sleeve at the top.

“Oatmeal or molasses?”

“Oatmeal.” Chris pulled two cookies out of the package, the oatmeal for JD and a molasses JD figured was for him, refolding the package, and laying it on top of the dresser instead of back in the drawer, pushing that closed with his foot.

“You'll get ants in your clothes.” If it had been Buck who said it, JD would have rolled his eyes and fired back with something like, 'okay, Ma', but he didn't quite dare with Chris, just shrugged and squirmed onto his side, hissing as his long johns rubbed against his sore rear, holding out his hand expectantly as Chris approached with his cookie, taking it and then a large bite, “Don't fall asleep with that in your mouth, you'll choke.” JD couldn't help but roll his eyes that time, he'd thought it was Buck who was the mother hen, jeez. “I saw that. Eat your cookie.” JD ate it, only almost falling asleep twice, snuggling back down into his pillow when he was done.

“Hey Chris?”

“JD?” Chris definitely sounded a little exasperated now.

“I know you said you aren't mad at me anymore-”

“I'm not.”

“But are you still mad at Ezra?”

“No, he's been punished and it's over. Just like you.”

“Tell him?” JD yawned again, eyes drifting shut for the night this time, next words almost indistinguishable, “He worries if you don't tell him.” Chris's hand stroked over the side of JD's head just once, tucking the too long hair that had flopped into his face behind his ear.

“I'll do that then. You sleep.”

 


	6. Chapter 6

Buck yawned as he came down the boarding house stairs, wincing a bit as his ass twinged from the movement. He wasn't _that_ sore, he couldn't say Josiah had been too hard on him, but when he'd been laying down last night and had suddenly remembered it was his turn for dawn patrol in the morning his groan had been deep and genuine. If he didn't know it would make it a heck of a lot harder to keep his seat Buck might just pad his saddle.

 

Heck, Lady was a good horse, not like she was gonna rear or do anything to unseat him, so maybe...it was a thought, anyway.

 

Buck had his hands on the boarding house doors, about to push them open, eyes already squinting in anticipation of the rising sun, when he heard a quiet, “Buck,” behind him and turned around grudgingly, really not in the mood for the ass chewing he was figuring Chris was gonna give him.

 

“Mornin', Pard.”

 

“Morning. Busy evening?” The man in black-actually it was just mostly black today, Buck noticed, he had a dark brown shirt almost buried underneath his duster-was leaning back against the desk in the boarding house's small lobby, his arms crossed loosely over his chest, looking friendly enough, not like he was about to kill him, anyway.

 

“Oh, I guess you could say that,” He hedged, wondering just what Chris knew, if he'd just heard there had been a commotion, or if he knew the details. If he knew about Buck, well, making a damn fool of himself, but _didn't_ know Josiah had dealt with it (he could feel his cheeks heating just at the thought) he might have to do some fast talking.

 

“Mmm. Wonder what Josiah would say?” He just looked at Buck, who shifted back and forth on his feet, wooden floor protesting underneath him, full of nervous energy.

 

“Hell, Chris, if you're gonna rip my head off, just do it.”

 

“I'm hoping Josiah did a good enough job of that for both of us.” His appraisal went on for another minute before Chris smirked, suddenly teasing, “You gonna be able to sit your horse?”

 

Buck groaned, half relieved and half embarrassed, “Don't got much of a choice, do I?”

 

“Not really. Want some company?”

 

“If you're wanting a ride, sure you can't do an old pal a favor?” Buck wheedled just a bit, knowing it would be a once in a blue moon thing if Chris did let him off, but a man can hope, can't he? Chris shook his head and pushed himself up off the counter, crossing over to Buck.

 

“Nope, you don't want to ride sore, don't get yourself in trouble before a ride.” It wasn't the first time Buck had heard that sentence, and as Chris pushed past him, he turned to follow, mumbling a little under his breath. “What? Didn't hear you.”

 

“Just talking to myself, Chris.” Chris's head craned back over his shoulder, not looking particularly impressed, and Buck gave him his best innocent smile.

 

“People'll think your funny, you do that too much.”

 

“Yeah, yeah...”

 

*.*.*.*.*.*

 

Climbing off their horses and leading them into the stables, the musky scent of horses and mostly clean straw hitting him, it took a moment before Buck noticed the dark haired young man who had been talking quietly with his horse, clamming up immediately as they walked in. As his eyes fell on Ezra he started to smile, but the boy's head ducked, and Buck noticed his gaze darting towards the back door, and then back at him and Chris, Chris not seeming to have noticed him yet. The gunslinger had told him about how he'd punished the boys, and it looked like Ezra was still either embarrassed over being sent to his room, or still feeling guilty, or maybe both. Leading Lady into her stall and starting on getting all the tack off her, he looked over to see if Chris had spotted him, and while the man wasn't looking at Ezra, the set of his shoulders told Buck he had noticed him and how nervous the boy was. Realizing after a minute that neither of them was going to talk first-which since Chris had told him he wanted to make sure Ez knew they were okay, perhaps not in those exact words, but it had obviously been what his brother meant, was frustrating, but not surprising. Chris and talking about emotions did not generally go hand in hand, and, for as high spirited as he could be, Ezra played his pretty close to the chest as well. Still, this was getting a bit ridiculous, even for them.

 

“Hey Ez, you having a good mornin'?” He smiled affably as Ezra looked up, face pleasant, acting as though the silence between the three of them had been perfectly natural, “Gonna go for a ride?”

 

“It has been a fine morning, Mistah Wilmington, thank you for asking. Ah am pondering on doing just that. Chaucer is certainly in the mood for it, aren't you old friend?” Ezra's voice was perfectly even, until his last sentence when it softened, strong affection clear in it as he scratched Chaucer's nose. Ezra's eyes moved to Chris for just a second, before going back to meet Buck's, and if that stubborn son of a gun didn't say something soon Buck was gonna kick him square in the seat of his pants.

 

“Maybe when you get back we can play a hand at the saloon, sound good?” The boy grinned then, some of the usual mischief coming back into his eyes.

 

“Only as long as you are not troubled by the lightness of your wallet when you leave the table.”

 

Buck shook his head, grinning back, “Hell Hoss, I'm used to it by now.” Truth was, while Ezra could have taken every red cent he had without ever thinking of cheating, the kid didn't tend to clean people out unless they all but forced him into it. His wallet might be lighter-or, once in a month of Sundays, heavier-but it wouldn't be empty.

 

“Before you go riding, I want to talk to you.” The gunslinger's quiet words penetrated their conversation easily even though he didn't look up from the rub down he was giving Pony, the grin sliding off Ezra's face to be replaced by nervousness, and jeez, would it have killed Chris to try and sound a little happy? If he wanted the kid to _not_ think he was still in trouble, that solemn of a voice probably wasn't the way to do it.

 

“Yes sah.”

 

Ezra's tone was a little hesitant, and Chris did look up then, just long enough to speak, “You didn't do anything, I just want to talk to you.” He even managed a small, sincere looking, smile. Now Hoss looked just plain confused and Buck chuckled a little, Chris flinging a quick glare at him from under his hat before going back to brushing Pony.

 

“Alright, Mistah Larabee.”

 

Buck hummed aloud as he stroked the brush over Lady's coat, the horse busying herself with sticking her nose in the oats he'd given her when he'd finished drying her off, occasionally running his hand over her soft, almost downy, coat, doing his best to keep the silence from building again. Out of all of their horses Lady had the finest coat, except for Chaucer, and that wasn't a lick surprising, not when you considered how particular Ez was about his own hair, of course his horse would have the best of the bunch. The last time Buck had gone to mess it up, the way he did to JD, Ezra had swatted his hand away like he was diseased and ruffled up like a rooster. As Chris was finishing up with Pony, putting the curry brush up, Ezra looked less like a rooster and more like a rabbit. Or, as the kid noticed his concerned look and raised his head, trying to look like he was as calm and collected as could be, like a rabbit pretending to be a rooster. He turned his head to checking that the bucket Yosemite had mounted on the side of the stall, at nose height for a horse, was full of fresh water, and when he raised it again Chris was heading towards the door at the back of the stables, out where the corral was, Ezra walking to the side of him, asking, just loud enough for Buck to hear, “Is this about an assignment, Mistah Larabee?”, and he rather wished he could be the proverbial fly on the wall.

 

When Chris's answering, “Nope,” had Ezra slowing down a little, falling back half a pace, he frowned, hoping Chris didn't let his damn stoic nature ruin this. If Hoss thought Chris was just saying it because he thought he was supposed to, it could do a lot more harm than good. It didn't take a genius to figure out the kid had been treated like an obligation by most of the people who'd taken care of him. After a second, when they'd disappeared out the back of the stables, Buck patted Lady on the nose one last time and sidled down the aisle in-between the two rows of stalls. It wasn't really eavesdropping he was planning on, not exactly, but he wanted to be close, just in case.

 

If he overheard a little bit, or maybe more than a little bit, well, that would just make him better prepared to deal with it if things did go wrong. Chris would probably kick his ass all the way to the moon if he caught him, but Buck would deal with that if and when the time came. He moved closer to the back door, knowing if they'd gone around to the back of the corral he wouldn't be able to hear jack, but as voices trickled in to hit his ear and Buck realized they were just around the door he slowed his feet and made sure to breath nice and even, straining his ears a bit.

 

“...last night, want you to know it's over. You're forgiven and we're good, as far as I'm concerned. You understand?” There was a pause there and then a slightly sharp, “Ezra?”, from Chris.

 

“Mistah Larabee?...”, Hell, Ezra suddenly sounded guilty as sin and Buck fought a groan, because he had a feeling this was gonna take a different turn than he'd expected, “Ah didn't go directly to mah room as per your ordah.” Buck could imagine the look on Chris's face at that, the sort that would pucker a hog's butt, and it must have been close, because Ezra's next words scrambled out of his mouth faster than a deer ran at the sound of a gunshot, “It wasn't a lengthy endeavor, only long enough for a drink, Ah swear! Ah...Ah knew how peeved you'd be and went up to mah room as soon as Ah'd finished it.” Silence for a long moment, while Buck figured Chris was trying to reign in his temper, and it must have felt even longer to Ezra, because he started talking again, voice sounding resigned, “Ah am truly remorseful, Chris...Ah know Ah am a hard case*...” Buck's spine straightened at Ezra's last words, because Hoss talking about himself like that was not alright, if the kid needed his britches tromped over anything it was that.

 

“What'd you say?” Judging from Chris's tone, hard and sharp, and just a little bit incredulous, he didn't care for it anymore than Buck did.

 

“Ah didn't go dir-”

 

“Not that. You _aren't_ a hard case. You might be a lot of things, but you aren't anything like that, and I don't want to hear it again. I wouldn't let a hard case ride with me or the others. Like it or not, you're a kid, Ezra-you mess up, you get punished, and learn better.”

 

“But-” There was some quick movement then, and Buck wasn't at all surprised when the next sound he heard was that of a hard hand impacting a trouser seat three times.

 

“Knock it off, you hear?”

 

“Yes sah.”

 

“Good. Now, I'm _not_ happy that you disobeyed me,” another swat, and Buck decided it was probably time for him to start moseying away, “but once I've tanned your hide for it,” two swats and even though he was a few steps farther away than he had been Buck could hear the little gasp Ezra let out and cringed in sympathy, “It's over and done with.” He laid down a smack with every word of his next sentences, “It don't make you a hard case, Ezra. You're not a bad man.” Buck nodded in approval, then realized he'd stopped walking and moved until he was halfway up the aisle, too far away to hear anything but Ezra's increasingly vocal response to the tanning, that from the sound of it was close to being over, stopping briefly to try and calm down an agitated Chaucer, pulling his hand away right sharp when the chestnut tried to take a chunk out of it.

 

“Hey, I'm not the one lickin' your daddy,” He grumbled, more amused than anything, shaking his head. A hard case wouldn't spoil and treasure his mount the way Ezra did, sure as hell wouldn't have earned the animal's loyalty to that degree. Suddenly he realized that he couldn't hear anything at all from the back, which meant Chris and Ezra could head back in at any moment, and decided it was time he hightailed it out of the stables altogether. He didn't want to embarrass Hoss after all.

 

*.*.*.*.*.*

 

While they all frequented the saloon everyday, some more than others, it wasn't every night that saw the entirety of the Seven sitting around a table, having already scraped their plates clean and stacked them up to be carried away, cards shuffling speedily in a grinning Ezra's hands, Buck glad he seemed to be in such good spirits. He should have known Chris would handle it right. The gambler was showing off rather than just getting to dealing the cards, doing fancy bridges and making the pieces of pasteboard all but fly around. As impressive as it was, the boy had been going on for a good minute or two now, and everyone but JD was getting a bit impatient for him to just pass out the cards all ready. Ezra, when putting on a show, was not one to be hurried, and as Nathan and Vin teased at him, Ezra giving back as good as he got, the older peacekeepers watched more or less indulgently, occasionally tossing in a comment. As Ezra finally started flipping the cards out, effortlessly landing them where he wanted without hardly moving at all, Nathan chuckled, “Here I was, starting to think I was gonna be gray by the time we got this game started.”

 

Vin made a show of looking seriously at Nathan's hair from his seat to the left of him, “Nate, ya might want t' look in the mirror, right here.” He pointed to a spot on the back of Nathan's head that would be hard for him to see unless he had both a hand and wall mirror, smirking as Nathan's hand flew to cover the supposedly offending spot, before the man seemed to take a second to think and shook his head at the tracker.

 

“Not funny, Vin. I'm only twenty-four, ain't no way I have a gray hair.”

 

“The medical profession is an exceedingly stressful occupation, Mistah Jackson, and Ah do believe that stress is meant to be a factor in the acquirement of gray hair...”

 

A slightly sour look was tossed in a valiantly-trying-to-hold-back-laughter Ezra's direction, “If I do have gray hair, it's probably from one of the times one of ya dang idiots nearly got yourselves killed, and,” he pointed a finger at Ezra across the table and then moved it to Vin, “you two are by far the worst of the lot. If I'm going gray already, it's your fault.”

 

Ezra nodded with pretend solemnity, “Ah recall you professing that Ah was turning you thus several times before, Ah do apologize for this calamity.” Vin just grinned.

 

Josiah, on Nathan's other side, spoke up then, “The only one going gray around here is me, and it's all of you turning me that way. Nathan, your hair is fine.”

 

Nathan rolled his eyes slightly, chuckling a bit as he said, “I never thought it wasn't, 'Siah.”, but Buck thought he'd looked pretty relieved for a second there.

 

They weren't playing with much, which frustrated Ezra a little, though he tended to act like it bothered him more than it actually did. It wasn't until the third hand, Ezra having won the first two, that the pot actually built up to something worthwhile. Buck, having gotten lucky enough to get a pair of queens in what he was dealt, managed to snag a jack to match the one he was already holding when he discarded two cards, moved from raising ten or fifteen cents at a time to raising fifty cents, laying down a shiny half dollar, and then another, and quickly everyone but Hoss and Josiah, who must have had something because the corner's of his mouth kept turning up, folded. Ezra raised a dollar, Buck doing the same, and apparently two more dollars was too rich for the preacher's blood, as with a regretful sigh he laid his cards down. Ezra called, and Buck did too, pretty sure he had won, but Ezra was a shrewd player and would have bowed out himself if he didn't think the same. They flipped their cards over and-Buck crowed as he saw that both he and Ezra had two pair, but his was a sight higher, and a broad grin covered his face as he raked the pot towards himself, “Alright, this boys is what I call a damn fine game of poker!”

 

JD laughed, “So, is it only a fine game when you're winning, Buck?”

 

“Now you're learning, kid.”

 

“Gentleman, does someone else wish to do the honor of dealing this round, Ah find mahself in need of another libation.” Chris held out his hands for the cards, and Buck grabbed a bill off the top of his haul, tossing it in Ez's general direction, the young man automatically snagging it out of the air.

 

“Get a round for everybody, would ya Hoss?”

 

“Most certainly, Buck.” It was a cheerful young man who walked over to the counter, sneaking the occasional glance over his shoulder to make sure no one peaked at his cards, Buck chuckling as he scooped up what there was of his growing pile, grabbing the last one as Chris tossed it down. He had a feeling Hoss would be coming back with something a mite more expensive than the round of beers or cheap whiskey he'd been thinking of, but he was in a generous mood after that win, so what the hell. Buck fought a disgusted grimace as he looked over his cards, not wanting to give the game away quite yet, but doubtful he'd be winning anything this hand. Another look and he decided there was no point in even trying to bluff, that was how much nothing he had.

 

“Hell Chris, don't think there is a worse hand in the deck than this.”

 

Chris rolled his eyes, handing JD two new cards for the ones he'd discarded, saying, “How many cards, Buck?”

 

Buck looked at his hand again, mustache wrinkling as he considered. “Gimme four.” He tossed most of his hand away, picking up the handful Chris had put in front of him, considering. Not as bad as before, but still nothing special. Buck heard the thump of Ezra setting down their drinks, and lifted his head to ask for his change, when a fist entered his peripheral vision and connected soundly with his cheekbone, knocking him reeling, he would've gone over backwards if someone-JD?-hadn't grabbed the back of his chair and kept it from tipping. Simultaneous cries of, “Mah Mothah is not a -!”, and “Ezra Patrick!”, let Buck know exactly what was going on even before the spots cleared from in front of his eyes and he could see Ezra stomping up the stairs to his room, Josiah preparing to follow.

 

Buck pushed Nathan's hands away, the kid hadn't hit him _that_ hard, he'd have a bruised cheek, and probably a hell of a shiner, but not more than that, and called out, “Josiah, no, let him be! Heck, you know I deserved it.” The preacher stopped, hesitating, and Buck raised an eyebrow, “If I said that about _your_ Momma?” Josiah turned around in his tracks and came back to the table, sinking into his seat.

 

“Fair enough.”

 

“Wait a minute,” Nathan frowned, “You're the reason JD was asking me about ____?” He frowned severely at Buck, “'Cause you said it about Ezra's mother? That ain't right.”

 

“Nate, I already had my ass kicked about three times for it, not you too.” Buck was abruptly exhausted, and knowing he'd deserved it didn't mean his face didn't hurt. After a second Nathan relented.

 

“Alright, I'm going to see if Inez has something I can make a cold compress out of,” As Buck's mouth opened, Nathan just talked louder, “Your cheek is already swelling, don't argue.” Inez, was, as always, an angel, and appeared before Nathan could go in search of her, several clean rags folded together in a bowl that had been soaked in icy water, Nathan taking it with thanks, wringing out the excess water into the bowl and handing it to Buck, adjusting where he held it and completely ignoring his complaint that it hurt more to put it there.

 

“So,” said Inez, “Which of you is going to go talk the with jugador de niño?”

 

JD's mouth opened and Josiah answered the question before he could ask it, “It means the boy gambler.” Everybody's eyes fell on Buck and he groaned.

 

“He ain't gonna wanna see me right now!”

 

“No,” Josiah said, “you're probably right. I'll go up. Should let him know that while I don't approve of him hitting you, I ain't exactly mad, anyway.” He looked at Buck solemnly, “I'll try and make sure he knows your sorry, and that you already paid enough.”

 

“Thanks, Josiah.” Buck sagged down in his chair, shifting the compress a little and wincing when it touched a particularly sore spot.

 

Inez squeezed Josiah's arm as he stood, “Tell him I have a concha for him if he wants it later.” She looked down at JD and Vin's hopeful faces and chuckled, “Yes, you can each have one as well, if you bring the plates and empty cups into the kitchen for me.”

 

“Thanks, Inez.”

 

“Yeah, thank you, Inez.”, Vin rose and immediately started grabbing glasses, Nathan having to pull his half full mug away from him in order to keep it, but JD turned to Buck, “You sure you're okay? Do you want part of my concha?”

 

Buck chuckled, feeling quite a bit better than he had been, “I'm fine JD, and nah, pard, you eat your treat, I'm fine.” JD looked him over, Buck hiding another chuckle, before he nodded and stood, hefting the stack of plates up into his arms and following after Vin. Pretty soon it was just Chris, Nathan and him, and with slightly sarcastic cheer, Buck said, “Hey, anybody wanna sample the drinks on that tray?”, earning himself a disapproving look from Nathan and a look of exasperated amusement from Chris, “Nope? Me either.” He propped the non swollen side of his face up on his palm, elbow balancing on the table, and let out a gusty sigh, “Me either.”

  
  


 

 

 

 

 

*according to Western Slang and Phrases: A Writer's Guide to the Old West 1860's -1880's a hard case was a worthless, bad person. It's a nifty website, check it out.

 


	7. Chapter 7

Buck fought a sigh as he stepped into the livery in time to see Ezra's royal blue jacket, his second favorite, disappear out the back. Slowly he began walking down the aisle after him, not wanting to crowd but not willing to give up entirely either, not yet. The boy had been avoiding him the entire day, vanishing before he could get close, or making an excuse to leave before he had a chance to talk to him properly. It was getting on near supper time with no change, he'd really upset his brother, and frankly, he felt like crap. Ordinarily he'd drop it for now, give him more time, but it was Wednesday night, and all the boys, plus Inez, Mary and Billy, Miz Nettie and Casey, and the Judge and Miss Evie if they were in town, got together in the big saloon kitchen if they could. Most of the time, except if someone was on a prisoner transport or a delivery of some type, Nathan had a patient he couldn't leave, or the weather was too bad for Miz Nettie to trust her old horse and wagon, they managed it, and he wasn't having Ezra not come because of him.

 

A few times lately, Mrs. Potter and her youngin's had come along, and it was plain to see her and Josiah were sweet on each other for all they said they were only friends. Buck would give it another half a year at the most before Josiah started courting her properly, or Buck would have to smack him upside his big head. Ezra had been a little jealous about it, liked Mrs. Potter and doted on the twins almost as much as he did Billy, but still clearly jealous, he wasn't used to sharing Josiah with anybody but the rest of the seven.

 

Which probably wasn't helping his temper or his hurt feelings none. Buck figured he'd had about the worst timing in the world with this mess. A soft whinny, so close to his ear he could feel the horses's hot breath, startled him and Buck realized he'd come to a stop right outside Lady's stall. Well, it wouldn't do to ignore a beautiful girl when she asked for his attention would it? It really wasn't fair to force his company on Ezra anyway, much as he wanted a chance to apologize. Opening the stall door, Buck rubbed his hand gently down Lady's long nose, crooning, “Hey, pretty one, been awhile since our ride this morning', hasn't it?” Lady nuzzled a bit up into his palm, accepting his petting as her due, and then moved her head to nose delicately, but insistently, at his pockets. “Ain't got nothing in there this time, Lady, but your ol' pal will bring you something soon.” Buck knew Lady wasn't as uncannily smart as Chaucer, but they'd been together so long most of the time the mare got what he was getting at, least it seemed that way to Buck. She stopped probing his pockets anyway, looking at him with inquisitive eyes as he stroked her neck, and after a minute Buck leaned forward, putting his arms around the horse and leaning his head on her sturdy neck. “I really put my foot in it this time, girl.” Lady turned her head and a hot breath went down his collar, the horse settling her head onto his. “Know I need to apologize, but it's hard when somebody can't even stand to be in the same room as you.”

 

“Would your apology, sah, be for offending me or for the insult leveled against mah maternal parent?” The voice was icy and angry at the same time, but Buck was just so relieved Ezra was talking to him that he had to fight to keep the smile off his face as he released Lady, stepping away as turned to him, not wanting Ezra to think he thought any of this was funny. When he saw the hurt in his little brother's eyes, the rest of him stiff as a board, he didn't have to try anymore.

 

“Both, pard. I never shoulda opened my mouth to say something like that about your Ma, and I sure as shootin' didn't wanna hurt your feelin's any. I really am sorry, Hoss.”

 

“A man shouldn't have to hear such things about his Mothah, certainly not from a friend. And to hear that a friend thinks so in rumor is even worse.” Buck hung his head, because everything his brother was saying was true, his heart clenching a little as he realized Ezra had repeatedly called him friend instead of brother.

 

“You're right.” He didn't know what else to say.

 

“What am Ah to hear next? Shall a cowhand inform me that mah compatriots think Ah'm a cuckoo next, as Ah heard repeatedly from mah father's relatives?” Buck's head jerked up, both from surprise and how damned broken Ezra sounded. “None of it's true, it's naught but falsehoods, what you said, and what they said.” Christ. This was about a hell of a lot more than his words.

 

“'Course it's not true Ezra. I had no right to say nothing like I did, and nobody had any right to talk to ya like that.” Buck knew there were plenty of people out there that were just plain mean, liked being cruel to others just because they could, and it sure seemed like Ezra had been raised by a pack of them.

 

“Mothah did what she had to do after Da-Father passed. Our relatives had nevah approved their match, and no one would assist us, not for free, most would only take me so she could look for employment if she paid them in advance, and Ah can tell you, they nevah acted like it was enough. Yes, when she married again it was for money-at least Ah could be with her then! It didn't- _doesn't_ mean she is...” He trailed off and Buck could see his Adam's apple working as he fought for control of himself, “ _that_.” Part of Buck wondered if he should stop him as Ezra opened his mouth again, not sure the boy meant to be revealing all that he was, but at the same time it seemed like he needed to say it. “Everything she did, she did for me!” Ezra's eyes pleaded at him at the same time they were furious, and Buck found himself nodding, a lump in his throat. He wasn't sure if that was true or not, maybe, hell, even probably, when his brother had been small, but it was pretty clear that it had changed somewhere over the years, Maude treating the boy more like a partner in crime than a child to be protected. It was also pretty clear that Ezra needed to believe it, whether it was the truth or not. Buck nodded again, but before he could think of what to say next, Ezra, voice calm now to match his face, only his eyes showing any emotion at all, said, “Ah'd have thought that of everyone...” He trailed off, and pivoted a little on his foot, and Buck, worried that he was going to take off again, stepped forward and held up a hand.

 

“You're right, Ezra. Out of everybody I shoulda known better.” Buck hadn't realized Ezra had known about his Momma, sure hadn't told him the way he had JD, but the boy was real good at reading people, and had practically grown up in saloons where there were often working girls a plenty, so he wasn't too surprised. Buck knew first hand how much words like his could hurt. He'd been plenty tipsy, but that was no excuse. “Can you let me explain, pard?”

 

For a second Buck thought Ezra was going to say no, hell, for half a second there, his brother's mouth tight, Buck thought he was gonna haul off and hit him again. Instead, he said, voice measured, “Ah suppose as you attended to mah piece, it is only just that ah allow you the same privilege.”

 

“Thank you,” Buck breathed it sincerely, relieved. Then, even though he'd been thinking over what he was going to say all day, he found the words weren't coming, not easy anyway, stumbling and tripping off his tongue. “First thing I guess you should know is I didn't mean it in no real sense...I know your Ma...I mean.” Buck wasn't an easy blusher, but he could feel a little heat rising in his cheeks.

 

“Ah believe, sah,” Ezra said, voice unimpressed, “that the term you are seeking is 'literal'. You did not mean it literally.”

 

Buck nodded, because that was exactly the word he'd meant, for all he hadn't been able to think it for the life of him. “Yeah, exactly. Hear me out here, because you might not like the next thing I have to say, alright?” Ezra just looked steadily at him, not giving anything away, certainly not an answer. Taking a breath to steady himself, Buck said, voice plain and straight forward, “Sometimes Ezra, it can be easy to see that you wasn't always treated right growing up,” seeing the uncomfortable shift Ezra did at that, he hastened to add, “Not to strangers I don't expect, but to me and the boys and the other folks that care about ya. Maybe it wasn't your Ma doing it, but it was people she left you with, and hell-I love you, pard, you're my little brother, and it makes me damn angry to know that people hurt you.”

 

For a split second Ezra appeared utterly bewildered as he looked at him, Buck not sure if it was just because he hadn't imagined his comment had been anything but random meanness, or if it was because he still didn't get how important he was to all of them, to Buck, before his face smoothed out. He hoped it was just the first, it would be easy enough to fix that, but Buck was pretty sure they were in for the long haul on the last one. It was like Ezra got it sometimes, or about some things, but it didn't stick. “Ah appreciate your sentiment, Mistah Wilmington, but it was hardly as abominable a situation as you appear to think. Any relations or othah's who proved truly unsuitable, if Mothah had reason to believe Ah had been ill-treated, Ah did not stay there again.”

 

“And how long did it take her to come and check on you, how many times were you left with people like that in the first place?” Ezra was doing his best to look composed now, like he had since he finished telling Buck off, but Buck caught a little half-flinch at his words and was glad he'd clamped his lips shut on the rest of the questions he had-just how bad had things had to be before Maude considered it 'unsuitable', how many places had he been sent back to that were almost, but not quite, crossing that line?

 

“Ah am growing tired of your line of speaking Mistah Wilmington, Ah may take mah leave soon if it continues along this route, and yet Ah still have no explanation for how you came to speak so about mah Mothah, your opinions on mah upbringing not withstanding.” An edge of impatience had crept into his voice, and Buck held up his hands in a gesture of surrender.

 

“Alright, alright, I get it, I'll get to the point.” Ezra merely raised an eyebrow at him expectantly, and Buck drew in a breath, “You remember when Josiah came to fetch you when we was playing cards in the saloon a couple days ago?” A stiff nod was his only answer, and Buck plunged on. “You had avoided going and seeing him at the church, 'cause you thought you were in trouble even though you hadn't done anything,” a slight twitch of both of Ezra's hands at the same time put rest to that idea, but if he hadn't gotten caught Buck figured it couldn't have been too bad. Hopefully. “JD-and I let him drink a bit more than I probably should've that night, don't be mad at him, pard, alright?-wanted to know why, why you thought Josiah would be mad at you for nothing...and maybe I'm wrong pard, you'd be the one to know, but I blame your ma for that. And I'd been drinking plenty myself, so instead of saying that, what came out was...what I said,” He finished it lamely, looking at Ezra for his reaction. He looked, honestly, like he didn't quite know what to do next, an expression that Buck wasn't used to seeing on Ezra' face. Buck fancied that maybe the boy wanted to forgive him, but either his pride or not being sure how to go about it was stopping him. Deciding that after a day of being constantly avoided, and pouring out his heart just now, he wasn't above it, and ignoring a little prick of guilt, said quietly, looking straight at Ezra, “But I guess if that ain't good enough, it ain't good enough. You go on to the dinner with everybody, and I'll head back to the boardin'-”

 

“No!” Having not expected quite that reaction, Buck winced, seeing Ezra swallow hard, and that his hands had already squeezed into fists, not angry, more like he was doing it to keep control of himself, “No, Buck, you shouldn't-Ah would not wish, Mistah Wilmington for you to remove yourself from the festivities on account of mah person. If anything-”

 

Getting a little frustrated now, and wondering just what he'd missed, Buck said firmly, “No. I ain't going if you aren't there. It wouldn't be right and I'd be miserable the whole time anyway.”

 

“Ah would feel much the same way if the situation were reversed.” Ezra's gaze had moved so that he was looking at a spot somewhere around Buck's ear, and while his voice was steady, if quiet, Buck thought the only way it would be _that_ steady, almost unnatural, was if he was forcing it to be. Buck frowned for a second, and then went with his instincts, which said there had been enough space, enough letting him think-right now what Ezra needed was a hug and to be told it was gonna be okay, even if he didn't know it himself. Stepping forward, not moving overly fast in case he was dead wrong, Buck put a hand on Ezra's shoulder and tugged him in, wrapping his arms around him in a bear hug. He stiffened for a second, and Buck prepared to let him go if he tried to pull away, wasn't going to force it on him, but instead Ezra gripped him back, tight, not plastering himself to him the way JD would've, more burrowing in, body still tense, like he was trying to hide in Buck's chest.

 

“It's alright, Hoss, it's gonna be just fine, you hear? Brother's fight. It don't change nothing.” A fierce nodding, Ezra's forehead grinding into his collar bone a bit, but Buck just squeezed him tighter, “it don't change nothing.”

 

*.*.*.*.*

 

“There you two are, we were about to send out a search party,” Josiah grinned at them, big and broad, as Buck walked through the door that went from the saloon front to the big open kitchen and store room in the back, Ezra a step in front of him, the older man obviously pleased to see them here and together.

 

“More like about t' eat yer share a the biscuits.” Vin muttered, looking almost mournfully at his still empty plate. Buck supposed, as he headed around the table for an empty chair inbetween Chris and Nathan, Billy insistently calling for Ezra to come and sit between him and JD, if everybody was sitting down and ready but them they'd been waiting for a bit. It wasn't as though either him or Ezra had been paying much attention to the time.

 

“What was that, Vin Tanner?” Nettie asked, eyebrow raised, Vin blushing a little as he looked around Casey to her, obviously not having expected her to hear. Buck chuckled as he finished settling in his chair, nodding with a smile at JD across from him, and then catching Ezra's eye for a second and winking as he jerked his head in Vin's direction, Ezra hiding a chuckle. That was what Vin got for plotting to eat their food.

 

“Aw, I was jus' teasin', Miz Nettie.”

 

“Good,” she said matter of factly, “there's more than enough for everybody. I might even have an extra biscuit or two for you _if_ you eat all your string beans.” 

 

“I like string beans, Miz Nettie,” Billy piped up, Buck almost sure Ezra had taught him that 'so sweet, I'm an actual angel' expression on his face.

 

Smiling at him, more than a bit amused, Nettie said, “Is that so? Seems you have some competition for those biscuits, Vin.” Buck had to hide a laugh at the face Vin made at that, not sure whether to be amused at Billy himself or not. Looking around the table he saw that it looked like all the womenfolk had had a hand in this meal-a big, steaming, platter sized bowl of Inez's picadillo, which near as he could figure was basically spicy Mexican hash with a lot of tomatoes in it and rice underneath the rest-it was delicious and Inez didn't think it was fancy enough to serve in the saloon, so Buck was particularly happy he hadn't skipped this meal-Nettie's biscuits, string beans, (which she pan-fried in butter, and if Vin wanted to slip his portion Buck's way he wouldn't say a word), and a couple of sweet smelling pies sitting over on an old sideboard that he thought Mary must have made. Luckily for all of them, while Mary couldn't cook a stew or fry a fish, or anything like that for the life of her, she could bake a pie or a casserole just fine. 

 

“You two fix things?” Chris asked quietly as plates started being passed around, Josiah closest to the big platter and scooping out generous portions on each plate that passed his way, not leaving much room for Nettie's string beans and biscuits.

 

“'Course. Wouldn't be here if I hadn't.” Chris smiled a little at him, his hand coming up to clap lightly at Buck's shoulder, squeezing for just a second before he let go and turned to accept his now filled plate from Nettie, and Buck, realizing his own would be next, held out his hands just in time to not slow them down. And to nudge JD's ankle with his shoe, and gesture for him to put his fork down with his chin, because you didn't not say grace with both Miz Nettie and Josiah at the table. Sure enough, a second later when everybody had a full plate in front of them, Josiah cleared his throat and held out a hand to either side of him. This had been the part that had been the hardest to get Chris, who was not much of one for praying, and certainly not for hand-holding, to go along with, but they'd worn him down.

 

“Thank you, Lord...”, Buck didn't pay as close as attention to the grace as Josiah would probably have liked, letting his mind wander a bit, he had jailhouse duty in the morning, and then the afternoon patrol...he wondered if any of the boys would want to ride along, stop at the river and go fishing...“...Amen.”

 

Taking a moment to take a bite of picadillo before he did anything else, Buck swallowed, “I'm thinking on going fishing tomorrow afternoon, anybody want to go along?”

 

“You've got patrol,” Chris interjected, before anybody else could, and Buck waved him off.

 

“Hel-heck, pard, I know that, I meant after, of course.” He shot an apologetic look at Mary, knowing she didn't much like Billy hearing language like that, but she just shook her head at him, a smile playing at her lips.

 

“I'll go,” said JD, and Buck, mouth full of biscuit, nodded at him, having expected that answer. “Casey, do you want to come?”

 

The girl blushed a little, and said, “Sure do, but tomorrow is baking day...”, she turned to look at Nettie, who cocked her head to the side, as though considering, and then gave in with a smile.

 

“Long as you help me in the morning, I can spare you for the afternoon.” Casey beamed at Nettie, and JD beamed back at her, and Buck figured he was gonna have to watch to see they didn't sneak off too far. That reminded him of Lilah Gold, he hadn't thought about her in at least a decade, and it was another before that since he'd seen her...

 

“I remember the first time I took a girl fishing, a little gal I met when me and Chris stopped in-”

 

“Buck.” Chris cut him off sharply, shaking his head at the same time and Buck frowned at him, confused.

 

“What I'd do?”

 

“I know how that story ends.”

 

“I wasn't gonna tell that part, just about teaching her how to fish!” Buck protested, as most of the table started laughing, Nettie shaking her head at both of them, and Billy's voice piping up in the background, “What's so funny, Mama? Can I go fishing with Mr. Buck?”

 

 

 

 

 


End file.
